Israel

On Thursday, October 14, 2004, ISRAEL WEINAPPLE; beloved husband of the late Sylvia Weinapple; loving father of Edward Weinapple and the late Lillian Citrenbaum; beloved brother of Sam Weinapple and Rose Parcover; adored grandfather of Mark, Howard and Don Weinapple and David and Arthur Citrenbaum; beloved great-grandfather of Ryan, Gregory, Jordan, Jeremy, Justin and Mackenzie Weinapple and Lewis Citrenbaum. Services at Beth Israel Mikro Kodesh Cemetery (Bowleys Lane) on Sunday, October 17, at 2 P.M. Please omit flowers.

Paris.--THE CONFIDENCE Israel's Yitzhak Shamir expressed after meeting George Bush last week was a whistle in the dark. Things could scarcely be worse for Israel. They are worse, perhaps, than even Mr. Shamir understands.First is the threat from Saddam Hussein, which the Mr. Shamir understands very well. Americans debate whether Iraq's threat to them is such as to justify war. For Israel no doubt exists. If Mr. Hussein survives his confrontation with the U.N. and the United States, he provides the biggest external threat to Israel's existence the Jewish state has yet confronted.

Additional Iraqi missile attacks on Israel give rise to speculation that Israel will retaliate. Do you think Israel should or will strike back, and how will this affect the war? Tell us your opinion by calling SUNDIAL, the Baltimore Sun's telephone information service.The call is local and must be made from a tone phone. The SUNDIAL number is 783-1800 or, in Anne Arundel County, 268-7736. When you reach SUNDIAL enter category 4600 and wait for instructions from the announcer. Call with your opinion between 10 a.m. and midnight.

THIS IS a passage from a personal letter sent to the prime minister of Israel by a particularly sophisticated and experienced American supporter of his government and country:"If it should develop that the availability of loan guarantees should be conditioned upon a change in the principles you have adopted regarding participation in the proposed international peace conference or upon a change in the settlement policies established by the government of...

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S MISSILE ATTACK on Israeli targets was an act of desperation that should have surprised no one. In the press conference following the failed Geneva talks with Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Iraq's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, declared Iraq's intention to strike at Israel soon after the onset of hostilities.The ineffective Iraqi response to the allies' air attack made Mr. Hussein's calculation crystal clear: The only possible alternative to humiliating defeat is a widened war that shatters the coalition arrayed against him and puts in its place a confrontation between the Arab states and Israel.

Regarding Ramzi and Noura Hemady's recent commentary on Syria's Golan Heights, the authors ignore three critical facts when it comes to the ultimate possession of that disputed territory ("Let people of the Golan decide their fate," Feb. 8). First, based on biblical and current history, the presence of Israel is justified in that strategic region. Second, there are now over 20,000 Israelis living on the Golan Heights with extensive agricultural development. Third, Syria has refused to negotiate for the return of the Golan Heights in exchange for making peace with Israel.

The article by Zainab Choudry and Saqib Ali on Israel's supposed discrimination against Arab-American and Muslim citizens is missing a big part of the story in the Arab and Muslim world ("Don't let Israel discriminate," April 30). Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had to personally intervene to allow Jewish reporters on his plane to enter Saudi Arabia, since Jews weren't allowed. Christians in Arab lands are harassed and persecuted on a regular basis. Meanwhile, Muslim women are considered property upon marriage, and the Arab Spring in Egypt has replaced one dictator with another.

JERUSALEM -- Israel has agreed to let nine of the 41 deported Palestinians leave their frozen camp in southern Lebanon today and return to Israel, where they will likely be jailed.A tenth, 16-year-old Bassem Siouri, returned with Red Cross officials yesterday, and was brought to his home in Hebron.The 10 were deported "by mistake" when Israel bused the Palestinians to southern Lebanon on Dec. 17 in a mass expulsion of Islamic fundamentalist Hamas members, Israeli justice officials said.Israel Radio last night said the returning deportees would be returned "to their last place of residence."