Goodwill to Palestinians, or Appeasement?

Sir, - I was utterly dismayed and even sickened to read on your front page that some in our senior IDF echelons are even now proposing goodwill gestures toward the Palestinians. This is especially perplexing when we read on the same front page of the determined efforts by the P.A. to seek U.N. membership and their adamant refusal to recognize Israel as a 'Jewish' state.

Have we learned nothing? Surely common sense informed by bitter experience should have long ago convinced us, not only of the utter futility of these gestures, but also of the heavy price our citizens often have to pay. Threatened Palestinian violence cannot be bought off! It must be made unthinkable by the strength of our preparedness and determination to oppose it. Evil cannot be vanquished or appeased by gestures of goodwill, it must be confronted by implacable might armed with the righteousness of our cause.

In ancient times when Israel was to go into battle, the Cohen exempted  those who were faint of heart. Are we now facing a situation where those who are in-charge of our defense forces are similarly stricken?

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva