The problems the Palestinians face are a direct result of Yasser Arafat's walk out, without so much as a counter-proposal, on peace negotiations that gave the Palestinians almost everything they had asked for. The present Palestinian uprising, Intifada II, followed. Children throwing stones at Israeli security forces were actually being used as shields for adults with weapons. The situation has escalated with Palestinian terrorists blowing up children and teenagers at pizza parlors and on buses, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad sending suicide bombers and gunmen into crowded urban areas for the purpose of murdering as many innocent Jewish civilians as possible. Hundreds of Israelis have been killed since the beginning of the Intifada in October of 2000.

In an effort to protect its citizens, Israel has been forced to seal off areas from which attacks were launched. Of course this causes hardships to the Palestinians, but can the Israeli government do any less to protect their citizens against an enemy that knows no societal rules - an enemy that teaches it's children to hate and establishes suicide bomber kindergartens and summer camps? Would we expect our own government to defend any less aggressively if U.S. citizens were attacked on our own land from neighboring countries?

The Palestinian problem stems from the collective and historic irresponsibility of Palestinian leadership and from most of the sixteen non-democratic Arab nations, whose leaders have used the Palestinians as pawns for their own self-interest. In 1948, if the Palestinians had accepted the partition of the area, there would have been a Palestinian state as well as a Jewish state without war and without a refugee problem.

The 700,00 Palestinian refugees created by the war waged against Israel in 1948, could easily have been absorbed into Egypt, Jordan and other Arab countries. Instead they were placed in refugee camps to be used in a propaganda campaign to de-legitimize Israel. At the same time the Palestinians were displaced, 800,000 Jews were expelled or forced to flee from Arab lands. Most were absorbed into Israel.

The Arabs did not accept Israel's existence in 1948 and have continued to deny the small state's legitimacy through three more wars waged against her. In spite of the peace agreed to by both Egypt and Jordan with Israel, their press and media relentlessly spew anti-Semitism and anti-Israel rhetoric. Syria, Iraq and Iran are prominent on the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism, mainly because of their acts of terror against Israel.

Instead of using millions of dollars given by international governmental and private relief organizations to help resettle and provide for the needs of the Palestinian refugees, schools were created to teach hatred of Israelis and Jews in general. These schools have been so successful that they have created three generations of Palestinians with little more to hold into than their hatred of Jews and the desire to destroy Israel.

Yasser Arafat, their leader who had the ability to do so, has not used his position as the head of the Palestinian Authority to attain peace, or to help his country prosper or his people attain self-sufficiency, dignity, and opportunity. In fact, he has done just the opposite. He has manipulated international politics and promoted terrorism against the Jewish state as a means of deflecting recognition of his own failures and corruption.

That Ms. Daoud dares to accuse the Israelis of disregard for human life, while Israel, in self-defense, pin-points terrorists in order to protect innocent Palestinians, is nothing short of incredible. She justifies the rage of the suicide bombers in killing innocent people. Nothing justifies targeted killing of innocent people, ever.

What the Middle East conflict has always been about is Israel's right to exist. It is not about settlements or the right of return, it is not about human rights. It is a battle fueled by radical Islam and anti-Semitism. It is about the goal of the Arab countries in the Middle East to keep their people from reaching their own human potential. It is about Arab leaders who refuse to accept this small democracy in a sea of totalitarianism. It is about the existence of Israel being a reminder to millions of Arabs what is denied them by their own.

When the Palestinians and Arabs truly come to accept Israel's legitimacy and right to exist, all other problems will be resolved.

Sincerely, Bobbie Towbin Interim Director Denver Office