Krauthammer on Israel

Charles Krauthammer’s column (“Shamir Is Guarding Israel, Not Quibbling,” Op-Ed Page, Nov. 5) defending Shamir’s refusal to negotiate with Palestinians outside the occupied territories betrays a thinly veiled pro-annexation bias.

If either Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir or Krauthammer were seriously interested in establishing a lasting territorial compromise between Israel and the Palestinian people, locking the 3.5 million Palestinians living outside the West Bank and Gaza out of the peace process would be the worst way to achieve it. For without the political and economic support and continued loyalty of these external Palestinians, a weak Palestinian mini-state in the West Bank and Gaza could readily be undermined by “Palestinian outsiders” claiming no allegiance to its borders, leaders or political institutions.

Israel’s own long-term security, thus, depends on obtaining the binding commitment of the Palestinian diaspora and the Palestine Liberation Organization, in addition to the territories existing residents, to any negotiated peace.

Neither the majority of Palestinians nor Jews may be able to live in the resulting Palestine or Israel. But the majority of both must have “their homeland” to support.

Shamir’s and Krauthammer’s objection to talking to external Palestinians about this path to peace, indeed, is not a “quibble.” It is a calculated political monkey wrench thrown into the peace mechanism itself.

JOEL GAYMAN

Los Angeles