In your editorial:{"The ground weakens under Mahmoud Abbas" Aug.26}, You speak of " Mr. Abbas is clearly not doing a very good job of dismantling Hamas's terrorist infrastructure." There is reference to breaches in the ceasfire. The facts are that it is Israel which has repeatedly breached the ceasefire, before the suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Sharon has demonstrated clearly that he has no intention of enforcing the Road Map, as formulated by its proponents. On June 4th. President Bush declared,in Aqaba, with Sharon and Abbas the enactment of the Road Map. On June 5th. Sharon sent his troops and assassinated two Palestinians near Tulkarm. On June 10th. Sharon's troops attempted the assassination of Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas political leader, and so on went the provocations.

Be that as it may, there is no mention of the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory that has been allowed to stand for 36 years in defiance of international law and repeated Security Council resolutions. This illegal occupation must,surely, be completetly terminated unconditionally. No negotiation is necessary between the occupier and the occupied. When Iraq illegally occupied Kuwait, in 1990, no one proposed the need for negotiation between the Iraqis and Kuwaitis, and when cpmpliance was not effected within weeks, a million troops were dispatched to evict Iraqi troops from Kuwait.