Letter: Unjust `peace'

Sir: In the midst of celebrating the fall of Benjamin Netanyahu and his pernicious regime in Israel, it would be well to sound a note of extreme caution.

The much-vaunted "peace process", to which Ehud Barak is now expected to "return", is, and always has been, deeply unjust to the Palestinians. The refugees from 1948 and their descendants, hundreds of thousands of whom remain in refugee camps after more than fifty years, were sidelined by the Oslo accords. The transfer of land to the Palestinians, although largely stymied by Netanyahu, was never entered into meaningfully by Rabin.

In the current atmosphere of relief at the replacement of Netanyahu by the apparently more amenable Barak there is a great danger that the West will simply grant carte blanche to the new government. With very few concessions Barak could all too easily win the approbation of the Europeans and Americans desperate for an apparent resolution to the conflict. Real and lasting peace, however, will never be achieved without justice.

JASON HART

London SE1