A serious peace proposal

The Opinion page article "Peace Process Hang-Up," Nov. 25, implies that Israel has made significant confidence-building moves which are not reciprocated by the Arab participants to the Middle East peace process. The steps described are largely cosmetic and aimed at the United States, not Palestinians or other Arabs.

Considering the scale on which Palestinians have been stripped of their property and human dignity during 25 years of Israeli occupation, Israel has a long way to go to convince anyone that it is serious about peace. Real confidence-building steps include: an end to torturing prisoners, collective punishments, and land confiscations; permission for diaspora Palestinians to return as permanent residents to their former homes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem; and an end to the taxation syst em. These are reasonable expectations of a country that describes itself as a Western-style democracy. Lee Elizabeth Britton, Petoskey, Mich.

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