Letter send by the Likud of Holland in The Economist, 2 juli 1997.

Sir – In your edition of June 28th you state that the Palestinian Authority is hardly to blame for the absence of peace and prosperity. You mention that Israel contravenes the spirit of earlier agreements.

You omit the fact that Israel holds the Authority responsible for many, very serious violations of the Oslo treaties, such as the unilaterally halting of the security cooperation with Israel, the failure of Arafat do disband and disarm militias like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or Hamas, the failure to extradite suspected terrorists to Israel (even enlist them in the Palestine police forces) and the failure to change the PLO Covenant, which therefore still calls for the destruction of the state of Israel and the expulsion of the Jews.

Is it not more unlawful to violate the letter than the spirit of agreements? Who are you to judge what the spirit of an agreement is?

You are afraid that because of the continuing stalemate in the peace process the territories could explode at any time. You ignore the fact that recently, indeed perhaps surprisingly, the June survey by the Independent Center for Palestine Research and Studies indicated that support among Palestinians for finding a settlement with Israel has increased since April to 68% from 60%. The June survey also showed much discontent about Palestinian official corruption.

It seems to me that Palestinians don’t like the counterproductive way mr. Arafat is handling things and want him to better honour agreements, so that the promised peace and prosperity can develop.