Remarks on Thomas Friedman’s article

In his article, “What’s Our Sputnik” (NYT, 1/16/10), Thomas Friedman was absolutely right saying that Dick Cheney’s attacks on President Obama are not worth responding to.

His suggestion for the United States to withdraw from Afghanistan and to let both Pakistan and Afghanistan solve their problems, is excellent. This is the best way to end that deadly struggle.

His suggestion that the Israelis and Palestinians should figure out on their own how to make peace is not realistic. Israel has been an aggressive state from the first day it was created. Until the eve of the 1967 war, Israel was in full control of 76% of what used to be Palestine. Israel has been in full control of the West Bank since 1967 and has built more than 300 Jewish settlements, where more than 400,000 Jewish settlers are living. Each time the United Nations Security Council tries to pass resolutions forcing Israel to leave the occupied lands, the United States uses its veto power to neutralize any resolution passed by the UN. Furthermore, Israel is the fifth military power in the world. This is due to the fact that America provides Israel with the most advanced military hardware and tens of billions of American taxpayers’ money.

What Friedman should have recommended is for the United States to play an even-handed role toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and allow the United Nations to implement its Resolution 242, which requests that Israel evacuate the West Bank. If Israel persists in annexing more Palestinian lands, then the Palestinians should be incorporated. Mr. Friedman should have called for the creation of a bi-national state where Jews, Muslims and Christians could live in a secular state as they used to live many generations ago.

Would Thomas Friedman support such a suggestion that might finally bring peace to the Middle East?