Letter: Israeli-PLO peace talks continue

From Mr Robert Kirk

Sir: After interviewing Hanan Ashrawi, Robert Fisk concludes that "if Syria signed up for peace before the final Israel-Palestinian negotiations, it would leave Palestinians as the only party in the Middle East conflict without a peace treaty" ("Precise defender of the Palestinian cause", 18 December).

First, there are several Middle East conflicts: Iraq/Kuwait (which caused a war involving 30 nations), Iraq/Kurds, Turkey/ Kurds, etc; yet it is the Arab-Israeli one that looks to be on the road to resolution, despite your correspondent's contrary opinion.

Second, the 1993 Israel-PLO peace agreement was exactly that, and thus a watershed in Middle East history. In return for the PLO's renunciation of violence and its pledge to remove the clauses in its covenant that call for Israel's destruction and the "liquidation of the Zionist presence", Israel recognised the PLO and agreed to hand over Gaza and most of the West Bank.

Two years on, those genocidal clauses remain, and more than 170 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians opposed to peace. Yet the Israeli government relentlessly pursues peace by withdrawing troops and expanding Palestinian self-rule.

If Mr Fisk wishes to gauge the chances for full Israeli-Palestinian peace, he might consider the words of the Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, who said that if the clauses in the Palestinian covenant calling for Israel's destruction are not cancelled by March 1996, "the [peace] train will be halted". Let Mr Fisk put that to Palestinian spokespersons; and let him ask, too, why the Western media have been silent on this.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Kirk

Salford, Greater Manchester