Palestine

JERUSALEM -- Fearing for the health and safety of her child, Yasser Arafat's wife, Suha, has made a decision that is scandalizing Palestinian society: She will give birth to the couple's first-born in Paris rather than in Gaza, where her husband is trying to build a Palestinian state."

Like most such dialogues, the recent discussions about Israel and Palestine at the U.N. ignore international treaty law ("Bid for statehood may end," Sept. 21). Jews were given legal and political rights to what is now called Palestine in 1920, when the four principal allied powers of World War I - Great Britain, France,Italy and Japan - formalized the Balfour Declaration at San Remo, Italy. Arab representatives agreed to this in exchange for recognition of their territorial claims in Mesopotamia and elsewhere.

In his commentary, Rafael Medoff compares the British occupation of Palestine in the 1930s with today's events, but the circumstances of today vary from then ("Bombs in Palestine, then and now," Nov. 26). This would include mentioning the Israelis dying and living in bunkers from shellings over the years, as well as the Palestinian frustration with the blockade and the Israeli retaliation for bombing Tel Aviv from locations placed in the middle of the Palestinians highly populated civilian areas so their people bear the brunt of the effort to eliminate those weapons.

The elusive decisive vote is a suburban soccer mom who took a wrong turn to an away game and hasn't been seen since. After two centuries, the White House deserves to be occupied by someone who respects antique things and institutions. Q. When is a cease-fire not a cease fire? A. When it is in Israel and Palestine or Northern Ireland. At least Cal will be back to kick around again.

On August 11, 2003, SYLVESTER G.; devoted son of Palestine Johnson. He is also survived by a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the Betts Funeral Home, 1129 N. Caroline Street, on Monday, 1 to 7 P.M. Funeral Services for Mr. Johnson will be held on Tuesday, at the above Chapel, where family will receive friends from 10:30 to 11 A.M., followed by funeral services. Interment Garrison Forest VA Cemetery.

As Maryland goes, so goes New York?Hamas terrorism cannot destroy Israel. It can destroy only Palestine.Good news for Queen Elizabeth, who could use some. The Australians threw out their republican prime minister and may keep her on their throne.You can have stricter state curricula standards, or stronger site-based school management, but you cannot have both fads simultaneously.Pub Date: 3/06/96

Never was it more obvious that Israel's government and friends of the peace process have a stake in the survival of Yasser Arafat and the Palestine self-governing authority. The embryonic Palestine in Gaza and Jericho needs law and order, economic development and optimism about the future.The meeting in Spain Thursday between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat recognized this need. The Israel-PLO negotiations next week on Palestinian elections and Israeli withdrawal can help.

President Barack Obama is reported to have said to his advisors last week that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would never make the concessions necessary for a peace accord. Well, we in the peace movement say, "duhhh. " If the president really understands this, it is time for him to go over the heads of the leadership in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and directly to the Israeli and Palestinian people, with a full-blown peace accord that would show what the U.S. could enthusiastically support.

Services for George N. Hammond, a retired general car foreman for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, will be held at 1 p.m. today at the Leroy C. and Russell M. Witzke Funeral Home, 1630 Edmondson Ave., Catonsville.Mr. Hammond, who was 94 and lived in the Charlestown Retirement Community, died Tuesday at St. Agnes Hospital of pneumonia and complications.He retired in 1961 after working for the railroad for 50 years.A native of Baltimore, he attended the Polytechnic Institute and served in the Navy during World War I. He was a member of the Morrell Park Post of the American Legion.

BY VOTING overwhelmingly to repeal its infamous resolution characterizing Zionism as "a form of racism and racial discrimination," the U.N. General Assembly has finally moved to erase the moral insult it inflicted on Israel 16 years ago and to redeem its own honor.The anti-Zionism resolution was conceived in Cold War opportunism and enacted in an atmosphere of political cynicism. The Soviet Union, a chief sponsor, saw it as a cost-free way to curry favor with Arab-bloc and other Muslim countries.