Editor, Daily Nexus,

In response to Ruben Brosbe’s column “An Informed Debate” (May 7, Daily Nexus), I must concur with Brosbe’s argument that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has tragically been oversimplified by both sides to the “point that true discussion cannot take place.” Brosbe’s analysis is problematic, however, because he seems to misconceive the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a war between the Israelis and the Palestinian people, rather than between Israel and Palestinian terrorists.

Terrorists constitute a minority of the Palestinian people but are the major obstacle to a comprehensive peace agreement. Murderous terrorist organizations such as Hamas, the Islamic Jihad Organization, and Al-Fatah are not only the enemies of innocent Israeli civilians. They are also the foes of the Palestinian people and are preventing the dream and right to a viable Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian terrorist groups are the enemies of peace. Not only have they murdered thousands of Israelis in recent decades, but they have also butchered countless Palestinians accused of collaboration with Israel. Homicide bombers are not fighting for an end to “occupation,” or for a cessation of house demolitions or any other goal short of the destruction of Israel. Hamas has repeatedly declared its intentions to derail any peace negotiations that would create a Palestinian state in anything less than all of Israel with the Jews “being pushed to the sea.” Palestinian terrorists and their supporters have done nothing for the Palestinian cause. They have mobilized world opinion against them, denied them numerous opportunities to reach a comprehensive peace agreement with Israel, and have brought internal strife and rivalry.

The real flaw in Brosbe’s argument is his attempt to offer a symmetrical formula to the hostilities. The reality is that Israelis and Palestinians, in practice as well as in theory, share the very same enemy – homicidal youths indoctrinated by despicable terror institutions and exacerbated by the cult of martyrdom inculcated into the minds of ordinary Palestinian children. As long as these demonic organizations continue to exist, enjoying not only the support of the Palestinian people but also that of the entire Arab world, peace is only a fantasy.

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