NAOM BERVOVITZ: You see my dear Timothy, I'm tired of arguing with people of your kind.

Thanks for your mail and your comments in Pravda.Ru. At first I thought to debate your arguments and try to prove you wrong, but then I understood it probably won't help. You seem to be one of those guys who won't let themselves be confused by facts.

You see my dear Timothy, I'm tired of arguing with people of your kind. I did it too much for the last 30 years with your Israeli counterparts - the ardent settlers and the right-wing bigots. They use the same violent language and racist arguments against Jew-hating gentiles like yourself in general, and the Arabs in particular, and they too have no respect for the truth and for human dignity or human life.

Back in 95', after PM Rabin was assassinated because he made peace with Arafat, I was sure we won't hear from our bigots anymore. But the Hamas bigots proved me wrong with a series of unprecedented acts of terror that brought Netanyahu to power. It took three years and an enormous effort by the moderate and leftist sections of the Israeli public to bring Netanyahu down and bring Barak to Power, but only to find out that all we have fought for over three decades was probably an illusion. Barak offered the Palestinians 97% of the territory, more then half of Jerusalem (including the Temple mount), dismantling of 85% of the settlements, and they rejected it all without even displaying a counter proposal which will specify what in the name of God will make them satisfied. Two weeks later they started the violence again and didn't stop till now.

The most painful revelation in this sad story was not the Palestinian or the Arab stand, but the western world and Europe in particular. Though it was clear that Israel had made a true effort to achieve peace and the Palestinians rejected it, Europe took side with the Palestinians and eagerly swallowed their propaganda. Not once throughout the last 18 months I've witnessed any real pressure from Europe on Arafat to stop the terror and go back to the negotiation table. Not even after February the 11th, as if Israeli lives don't matter as much as Americans. The BBC to this very day doesn't define these acts of terror as "terror attacks" but as "attacks".

Dearest Timothy, somewhere along your feeble thesis about the Jews you wonder whether "...history forced the Jewish nation into an ultra-defensive stance or this stance has made the Jewish nation unpopular throughout its history...", well, to be frank my dear, I don't give a dam what came first. The fact is that no matter what we do, you always hate us.

On my way to my office this morning I saw a note on one of the buildings in our university. It announced the death of the husband, daughter and son of one of our co-workers, in the blast at Matza restaurant 8 days ago. She is 52 years old this lady, and she lost her whole family in one moment. I use to dine at Mazta's with my wife and two daughters. It is just a coincidence that she lost her family and I still have mine. Entire families were wiped out by the terrorism in the last 18 month, and yet Israel is to blame.

Well my dear Timothy, your name sound's British so I'll finish with a somewhat forgotten episode in British history. You probably don't know, but the first Palestinian Intifada started under British rule in 1936 and lasted for three years. The Palestinians killed many Jews, which were totally defenceless at the time, but mainly attacked the British. When the Brits understood it will not fade away by itself, they shipped a small army to Palestine, and started to pound at the Arabs with no mercy. In two years they executed by hanging over a thousand (!) Palestinians (and one Jew), and killed more then 10,000 Palestinians in "battle". The outcome was the end of the rebellion, and large concessions made by the crown to the Palestinians on the expense of the Jews, like banning Jews fleeing from Nazi Europe to enter Palestine and sending them back to the furnaces.

Noam Bercovitz Computer Center Technion, Israel