Letter: Israeli assault on southern Lebanon

Sir: Sarah Helm writes (27 July) that Israelis employ the term terrorist 'for anyone who takes up arms against them'. Israel has fought numerous wars against the regular armed forces of Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. Never have these enemies been referred to as terrorists. Hizbollah, however, is the epitome of a terrorist organisation. Its tactics have included car and roadside bombs (in 1983, 239 American and 74 French members of the multinational force were killed in such attacks), missile attacks on civilian communities in northern Israel, suicide bombings, and the kidnapping and taking hostage of innocent foreigners (you might recall John McCarthy and Terry Waite).

Hizbollah's intentions vis-a-vis Israel are no secret. In a recent statement Hizbollah claimed: 'We do not recognise the Israeli robber entity . . . and we will not grant legitimacy to that racist entity called Israel even if it returns (territory) to the Arabs and keeps any territory whatsoever in Palestine. We remain steadfast in our strategy to erase Israel from the map.'

Terrorism is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as 'the use of violence and intimidation, especially for political purposes'. Does not two plus two equal four?

Yours sincerely,

MARK BERG

Britain Israel Public Affairs Centre

London, EC1

27 July