Posted on Thu, May. 02, 2002 Letters | Saudi threats, soldiers and demonstrators Crown Prince Abdullah's threats to President Bush (Inquirer, April 26) offer a needed opportunity to clear the air. Prince Abdullah represents one of the most despotic regimes in the world. It oppresses its own people, plunders the nation's resources, squanders opportunities to support economic and political development, and funds and supports the growth of religious intolerance and terrorism around the world. Prince Abdullah threatens to join the "Arab street." Well, the anger on the Arab street is a creation of his own leadership, and would be rising to a crescendo against him if Israel did not exist. The anger of the Arab street is the anger of a people who for too long have been denied hope or opportunity by their leaders. David Paul Swarthmore The Saudis accuse us of being biased toward Israel (Inquirer, April 26) This is entirely appropriate. Israel shares our cultural values. It is a democracy, has a free press, and allows freedom of religious worship. Saudi Arabia is a family-run government, has no free press, and Islam is the only form of worship permitted. In addition, Saudi Arabia supplied 15 of the 19 terrorists who killed thousands of Americans. Saudi Arabia hosted a telethon to raise money for Palestinian suicide bombers. Recently, a Saudi newspaper repeated the ancient blood libel that Jews use the blood of children to bake pastries. We need oil, and therefore need to remain on friendly terms with the Saudis. But if we are called on to decide between the Saudis and the Israelis, we should support our friend of similar conscience, rather than our friend of convenience. Robert Bendesky North Wales President Bush said he "appreciates" that the Saudis would not use oil as a weapon (Inquirer, April 26). The mere mention of oil should ring alarm bells for him. He must acknowledge that the Saudis export anti-American terrorism as well as oil, and let them know that the United States cannot be intimidated into accepting the Arab attempt to tie the value of a Jewish life to the price of a barrel of oil. Sherwood V. Cohen Elkins Park I, too, am uneasy reading about Israelis destroying Palestinian towns and putting the Church of the Nativity in danger. I don't think it serves us morally. But my discomfort is balanced by an understanding of three key facts that Mary Ann Holloway does not mention (Letters, April 27). One, even before there were "occupied territories," Arabs conducted an unrelenting campaign against the state of Israel. What was their reason then? Two, while a succession of Israeli prime ministers has put peace proposals on the table, Yasir Arafat has never responded with one of his own. His answer is always violence. And three, when Israeli women and children are killed, it is because they've been deliberately targeted; when Palestinian women and children are killed, it is because there are cowardly gunmen firing from behind them. I, too, wish there were a simple way we could promote peace, but there isn't. Neil Greenberg Melrose Park Going to the middle of a war zone as "peaceful protesters" and holding up signs in front of soldiers who are being shot at by the "innocent civilians" is not only dangerous but intentionally provocative (Commentary, April 29). The only people indiscriminately killing innocent people in Israel are the Palestinians. If the Israelis intended to "massacre" civilians, as the propagandists have accused, they would have sent in the air force and wiped out entire villages, not sent their military door-to-door to find the terrorists while avoiding civilian casualties at all costs. Mike Rosen Philadelphia Ribhi Mustafa was not there either when bullet holes appeared in the school walls (Commentary, April 29). He does not know whether they were Israeli or Palestinian bullets, or the circumstances under which the shots were fired. To him the women sent forward toward Israeli soldiers were unarmed, self-declared "negotiators." To Israeli soldiers, in a place where young women strap explosives laden with nails to their bodies to kill and maim as many Jews as possible, they were potential death. Better than anything else, this illustrates the problem with the U.N. investigating team. To a Palestinian advocate, every bullet hole is a sure sign of Israel's mendacity. To a soldier from a country whose people have sustained months of terrorist murders, that woman may be a homicide bomber. John R. Cohn Narberth johncohnmd@hotmail.com Ribhi Mustafa (Commentary, April 29) conveniently ignores the hatred and violence toward Jews by Palestinian society that have spawned suicide bombers, aircraft hijackers, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) moved into Palestinian-controlled cities and towns following a spate of suicide bombings that murdered 150 men, women and children in virtually all the cities of Israel. Yasir Arafat and his murderous regime not only ignored the Oslo accords that demanded the arrest of terrorists, but he actively incited these attacks. The IDF was compelled to move against the Palestinian Authority to prevent further attacks on Israeli citizens in its cities and to destroy the terrorist infrastructure. The Sharon government has acted with utmost restraint in the face of almost daily Palestinian attacks. Mustafa's story on the International Solidarity Movement begs the question: Why hasn't this group shown the same compassion toward the victims of Palestinian terror? Perhaps visits to the hospitals or cemeteries where the end result of Arab hate dwells in pain and silence. Joseph Puder Executive Director American Jewish Congress, PA Region Philadelphia Ribhi Mustafa cannot erase from his memory "the utter horror and evil inflicted by the Israeli army on the civilian population" (Commentary, April 29). How would he describe the actions of suicide bombers, many still children themselves, sent to kill innocent Israeli civilians, many of whom are also children? Does that not reflect an equally profound "horror and evil"? No one is blameless in this terrible and terrifying war. Rather than perpetuate the finger-pointing, better that we in the diaspora, Palestinians and Jews alike, take the high ground and petition world leaders to stop the carnage and broker a lasting peace. Ellen Metz Philadelphia chezmetz@aol.com email this | print this News | Business | Sports | Entertainment | Living | Classifieds Help | Contact Us | Site Index | Archives | Place an Ad | Newspaper Subscriptions About Philly.com | About Realcities Network | Terms of Use | Press Center | Copyright