LETTERS NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition

I was very upset with James P. Pinkerton's "What Sharon Offers Israel: More Bleakness" [Viewpoints, Jan. 30]. Pinkerton would have us believe that the only way to end terrorism is for Israel to leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip without waiting for security guarantees and a peace plan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNewsday
Main Authors Schmidt, Jakob, Loesch, Bernadette, Zobler, Mark I, Ross, Arlene, Grauer, Theodora, LaPorta, Robert F, Pototsky, Kathryn
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 06.02.2003
EditionCombined editions
Subjects
Lowery, Vaughn
Pinkerton, James P
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Summary:I was very upset with James P. Pinkerton's "What Sharon Offers Israel: More Bleakness" [Viewpoints, Jan. 30]. Pinkerton would have us believe that the only way to end terrorism is for Israel to leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip without waiting for security guarantees and a peace plan. He acknowledges that most Israelis are eager to trade land for peace. He goes on to say that even though Israelis want to leave those areas, the terror continues. Pinkerton expects us to believe that Arab terrorism would stop as soon as the last Israeli exits land that Palestinians claim as theirs. He must have forgotten that Israel unilaterally left southern Lebanon in the late 1990s and that the area was reoccupied by Syrian-controlled and Iranian-financed terrorists (such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas) as well as the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Israel expected terrorists to respond with serious peace talks. Instead, the terrorists interpreted Israel's courageous move as weakness. Terrorism intensified. Regarding "Wary Support for [Bush]'s Fuel Cell Push" [News, Jan. 30]: While hydrogen-powered fuel cells and vehicles could certainly decrease our dependence on fossil fuels, the fundamental question is where do we get the hydrogen? Hydrogen can easily be derived from water by electrolysis, but it requires energy. We can generate the electricity from solar or wind power, but we do not have enough of that even for a fraction of our current needs. Nuclear energy could easily be ramped up to produce enough electricity, but would be a political non-starter.