Nobel for Arafat

Albert Schweitzer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Andrei Sakharov and . . . Yasser Arafat? Arafat surely deserves some credit for negotiating with Israel, but a Nobel Peace Prize? He is a self-described terrorist who was essentially forced to seek an agreement with Israel because of his rapid decline in power and popularity within the Palestinian ranks. Whether one believes in his political aims or not is irrelevant; he sanctioned killing as a means to his ends.

True men of peace, i.e., King and Gandhi, forward their political and social agendas through peaceful means. To put his name alongside the true peacemakers of the 20th Century is unconscionable.

GREGORY KATZ

Long Beach

* In our quest for peace in the Middle East and elsewhere we must make the same sacrifices as do the terrorists who oppose it. One’s own life! The alternative is victory for continued warfare, and in a nuclear age, eventual destruction of planet Earth itself.

Those who question the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin should vent their emotions over the failed rescue effort to free Israel’s kidnaped soldier from Hamas, but not lose sight of what the committee said in making the selection:

“By concluding the Oslo Accords, and subsequently following them up, Arafat, Peres and Rabin have made substantial contributions to a historic process through which peace and cooperation can replace hate and war.”

The greatest tribute we can give to the heroic dead is to continue the process, move forward and establish the peace.

HYMAN H. HAVES

Pacific Palisades

* One award, three recipients, all terrorists. And they call it a peace award. How absurd! The entire Nobel committee should resign in disgrace.

RICHARD EARL JACKSON

San Clemente