Mr. Bednaric says that "Israel's need for quiet" and "the Palestinians' need for freedom from illegal foreign occupation" are symbiotic. I agree with that, but he forgets that Israel's lack of "quiet" is a direct result of its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, associated with the most brutal violation of their human rights, that has been allowed to stand for 34 years, in defiance of international law. The peace and quiet for the settlers would be obtained if they dismantle their illegal settlements and return the land to their rightful owners.

The heroic struggle of the Lebanese resistance movements, that I spoke of, is their struggle to liberate their land from Israel's illegal occupation that remained, in defiance of Security Council resolution # 425, for 22 years. Kidnapping and holding hostages is criminal, in my opinion, regardless of the perpetrator. Interstingly, Mr.Bednarik omits to tell us that, to this day, Israel still holds 13 Lebanese hostages,including the two men of religion, Sheikhs Obeid and Dirani, who were kidnapped from their homes in Lebanon.

As to the statement that " Israel...has not been linked with chemical and biological wepons", this contradicts the facts. Let me remind him of Daniel Paul's column in The Halifax Herald {'' Where is outrage over Israel's work on Biological weapon" Jan. 15, 1999}, referring to the article in The Sunday Herald {" The Ethnic Bomb: Israeli weapon would kill Arabs, spare Jews" Nov. 15, 1998}. This report was taken from The Sunday Times of London,authored by Uzi Mahnaimi and Marie Colvin.They reported on research work to develop an "ethnic bomb" that "would kill Arabs and spare Jews". The report stated that :"The programme is based at the biological institute in Nes Tziyona, the main research facility for Israel's clandestine arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. The report went on to say that :" A scientist there said the task was hugely complicated because both Arabs and Jews are of semitic origin", but he added : "They have,however, succeeded in pinpointing a particular characteristic in the genetic profile of certain Arab communities, particularly the Iraqi people". "The disease could be spread by spraying the organisms[genetically modified bacterium or virus] into the air or putting them in water supplies. The research mirrors biological studies conducted by South African scientists during the Apartheid era and revealed in testimony before the the Truth and Reconciliation Commission". Dedi Zucker, a member of Knesset ,the Israeli parliament, denounced the research stating: "Morally, based on our history,and our tradition and our experience, such a weapon is monstrous and should be denied." The report went on to say:" A Pentagon report warned last year that biological agents could be genetically engineered to produce new lethal weapons. William Cohen,the[then] American defence secretary, revealed that he had received reports of countries working to create "certain types of pathogens that would be ethnic-specific". A senior Western intelligence source confirmed that Israel was one of the countries Cohen had in mind. The report stated that "The idea of a Jewish state conducting such research has already provoked outrage in some quarters because of parallels with the genetic experiments of Dr. Joseph Mengele, the Nazi scientist at Auschwitz".