The June 4 edition of the Times contains a terrible leader entitled "A start along the peace road." It calls Israel's actions "retaliatory", criticises the Palestinian leadership for not doing enough to stop "terror", and says Arab governments "must renew their security guarantees to Israel". 

But its biggest offense concerns Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homes. It puts the term in quote marks as if to cast doubt on its legitimacy, it says the Palestinians simply "left" in 1948, and it describes their right to return as "unrealistic" because it means "the demographic dismantling of the Jewish state."

To counter this propaganda, please read the Palestine Liberation Organisation's 15 Frequently Asked Questions on the refugee issue, which are answered clearly and concisely:

http://www.nad-plo.org/fact_sheets_faq/FAQ-PalestinianRefugees.pdf

Following is the link to the leader, though it is reproduced below in full:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-702337,00.html

President Bush insisted on his last visit to Belfast that he was ready to work for peace in the Middle East as intensively as Tony Blair had for peace in Northern Ireland. Yesterday he took a big step in fulfilling this commitment. His presence at two back-to-back summits, in Sharm el-Sheikh and Aqaba, is intended to launch the "road map" and bind those who must travel along it to the conditions that it has set. His attendance also underlines his indispensable role in brokering an end to a conflict that has been one of the main sources of terrorism and anti-Western animosity. Mr Bush will not achieve a breakthrough in just two days of meetings; but he will have undercut sceptics, at home and in the Muslim world, who doubted his commitment to the road map in the run-up to the US elections, and he will have launched the most ambitious US diplomatic mission since coming to office.

Until now Mr Bush has rightly been wary of overengaging the authority of his office in the elusive search for peace. He saw how his predecessor's focus on the minutiae made him a prisoner of the region's politics. Bill Clinton eventually expended so much political capital that he had none left to give the stuttering negotiations a final, essential boost. Since then, three separate US initiatives have been launched, only to crash for lack of drive. But on the ground, 32 months of violence have taken a terrible toll: some 2,500 Palestinians and 750 Israelis killed, more than 90 suicide bombings, dozens of retaliatory Israeli raids and local economies ruined. Even as talks in Egypt got under way yesterday, a Palestinian was shot dead in Gaza, stone-throwers were wounded in the West Bank and a terrorist suspect had his house demolished.

Mr Bush left Evian early, but even his summit hosts joined in the praise from the other G8 leaders for his determination to concentrate on the Middle East. He has already achieved important symbolic steps: five Arab leaders have promised to crack down on violence, rejecting terrorism in any form "regardless of justifications or motives"; and Ariel Sharon released dozens of Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture.

More difficult steps must now follow. The road map commits Israel to dismantling at least 60 settlements, established in the two years since Mr Sharon came to office; he may offer to remove about ten. He faces strong opposition within his Cabinet even to this; domestic critics are already suspicious that he has not only accepted the principle of a Palestinian state but has spoken of Israeli "occupation", language anathema to the Right and to the settler movement.

Mr Sharon has also insisted that details of the road map need changing. In particular, Israel cannot accept a blanket "right of return" for all Palestinians who left in 1948, and whose descendants now number at least 2.5 million. Israel can, and should, offer some compensation or financial aid to a fledgeling Palestinian state; but it is unrealistic to expect it to accept the demographic dismantling of the Jewish state.

Hard choices also face Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Prime Minister. He has still not persuaded Hamas or Islamic Jihad, who have denounced the summits as a sham, to rein in all violence. He has not yet broken free of Yassir Arafat, determined to keep his malign authority paramount. He has yet to prove to the Israelis his ability to halt terrorism or to deliver to the Palestinians better government. And though his prestige is boosted by this summit debut, this is just as likely to count against him in the eyes of many Palestinians. At Aqaba today Arab foreign ministers must renew their security guarantees to Israel, hold Mr Abbas to his promises on violence and assure Mr Bush that they will support his initiatives. Only then will he stay personally engaged.

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