Israel history of rejection

YOUR May 9 editorial graphically and concisely captures the injustices Israel has inflicted on the Palestinians.

However, Lorna Fitzsimons of the Jewish pressure group Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (Guardian Letters, May 9) made it appear that Hamas was interested only in mindless violence.

But, on March 29 2007, the Arab League, with the acquiescence of Hamas and Hezbollah, unanimously repeated its 2002 Beirut offer to Israel to live in peace on condition that they vacate all the occupied territories. Even the US had welcomed this as positive. Israel rejected it.

Hamas had supported the Annapolis peace initiative. Moreover, within the last two months, Hamas has again offered a truce. Israel rejected this because it said that Hamas wanted a breathing place to rearm.

Afterwards, there was an Egyptian-brokered peace offer, which Israel sabotaged.

The real reason why Israel is not interested in peace is its continued expansion in the West Bank, over 500,000 settlers and 230 settlements, with annexation of 13 per cent of the West Bank through the apartheid wall and related massive theft of Palestinian water.

Peace would mean halting that illegal process which will no doubt continue as part of Israel's ethnic cleansing policy.

Peace would also deprive Israel of other goodies.

In May 2007, Israel sold off gas from the Gaza coast, ie at least partly Palestinian resources, for $4 billion and promised that the Palestinians would receive $1 billion plus the $30 million taxes that it withheld as a penalty for the Palestinians exercising their democratic will and voting for Hamas.

Has this money been paid?

D RAMPRAKASH
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