"Burned popcorn sets off fire alarms and the government says ban popcorn."

Six Day War

Underlying cause clear, but achieving piece isn't as cut-and-dry

Editor, The Times:

While there are no surprises in the opinions expressed by the two contrasting authors regarding the Israel/Palestinian conflict ["Six days, 40 years and counting," Times, Opinion, June 8], neither deal with the underlying cause of almost six decades of this conflict.

I would submit that the answer is obvious: a Jewish state in the Middle East is anathema to the Muslim world.

And therein lies the problem. As Moshe Dunie wrote, "The conflict's history reveals the challenges." I would add, "and its insolubility." For almost 60 years and five wars, a peaceful solution does not seem to appear on the horizon.

But wait! Ibtisam Barakat is correct when she states that "this peace is within our reach." This means that short of fulfilling Iran's President Ahmadinejad wish for it to disappear from the face of the Earth, Israel must be willing to make painful compromises, particularly with regard to the West Bank settlements.

On the other hand, the Arab and Muslim countries must believe that the Jewish state is not packing up and moving to Renton. Once there is that mutual action and understanding, peace could very well be within the reach of the antagonists. But don't hold your breath waiting.

— Norman Levin, Seattle

Facts distorted

I feel compelled to respond to the distortion of facts in Moshe Dunie's column. He takes complex history and simplifies and rewrites it to characterize Israel as an innocent victim of Arab states.

He states the Arab world rejected the United Nations' decision to create two states, one Jewish and the other Palestinian. The Palestinians, who had been living in that land for hundreds of years, were adverse to the idea of having half their land taken away and given to a population that was overwhelmingly composed of newcomers, Jewish immigrants from Europe. The newcomers, survivors of the Holocaust, were victims of a horrifying legacy that was perpetrated by Europeans not by the Palestinians.

Dunie states that the Palestinian Authority rejected Israel's offer in 2000 to give up more than 95 percent of the Gaza and West Bank territories to establish a Palestinian state. However, the West Bank is filled with Israeli settlements under Israeli control. Israeli offers to accept a Palestinian state are disingenuous when they are not accompanied by the offer and intent to remove the settlements. Few nations would accept a foreign power having autonomous settlements dividing up that nation's territory.

To ignore the complexity of the facts in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, deprives us of information we need to address the grievances that block the road to peace.

— Elaine Loughlin, Port Townsend

Deaths of Israelis

My heart goes out to Ibtisam Barakat for her suffering and her family's misery under the Israeli occupation.

However, your readers must know that Israel neither sought in 1967 nor desires today a continued military presence in Ramallah and the rest of the West Bank. In fact, the occupation is the direct outcome of the 1967 attack by Egypt, Jordan and Syria in a failed attempt to destroy the nascent state of Israel and annihilate its people. And its continuation is the direct consequence of the Palestinian leadership and Arab nations to deny Israel's existence.

The curfews, searches, arrests, security barrier and checkpoints are direct and necessary Israeli responses to continued Palestinian terrorism, suicide bombings, arms smuggling and rocket launches targeting Israeli civilians.

If the Palestinians stopped these attacks and returned to the political process, there would be no need for any children, on either side of the conflict, to sleep with their shoes on.

— Nevet Basker, Bellevue

Palestinian viewpoint

In a media environment where Israelis are almost always humanized (even when they behave inhumanely) and Palestinians are almost always dehumanized, it is refreshing to see a Palestinian's story told honestly, as it deserves to be told.

— Aram Falsafi, Columbia City

Free elephants

Death rate high

In "When you stand up for zoos you stand up for elephants" [Times, Opinion, June 15], the authors claim that "elephants are dying in the wild at the rate of 100 every day."

That may be true, but elephants are also dying at an alarming rate and at alarmingly young ages in zoos.

These deaths are the result of being forced to live in small, deprived spaces, abusive and neglectful treatment, and a reckless breeding program with a more than 50 percent mortality rate.

It is time for the zoo industry to finally admit that keeping elephants in zoos is as big a threat to these creatures as poaching in the wild, and has nothing to do with wild elephant conservation and everything to do with boosting revenues in that curious 19th-century form of show business called the zoological park.

— Nancy Farnam, Edmonds

Graduation rivalry?

Rude Dawgs, polite Cougs

I was disheartened to hear that U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks was heckled by a bunch of Huskies at the UW Commencement ["At graduation, the best and brightest (and wettest) jeer congressman," Times, Local News, June 10].

I went to my sister's graduation last month in the Tri-Cities and watched Gov. Christine Gregoire give a long-winded speech, all about herself, to a crowd of Cougars. Few in attendance voted for her or even acknowledge her as their rightfully elected governor. Yet everyone showed respect and let her speak for 15 minutes.

Yes, she was long-winded, in the hot sun. No, she was not inspiring, in the least.

I think we all just clapped vigorously when she was done because she was done.

— David Gossage, Mukilteo

Final pop

A burning issue

Re: "City tells workers: Pop corn cautiously — or else," [Times, Local News, June 14]: Typical response. Burned popcorn sets off fire alarms and the government says ban popcorn. Anyone who's worked very long in an office building knows that people burn popcorn all the time.

Move the detectors, silly.

— Brice McDaniel, Seattle