Settlers

Uri Dromi's article ("Withdrawal From Gaza Will Test Israeli Democracy," Commentary, Aug. 18) attends to only the smallest part of the Gaza problem. The point to withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is placement of all the settlers in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the wall and bypass roads, impassable to Palestinians, slice up the West Bank into small, economically unsustainable ghettos for the Palestinians, so they finally all have to settle in the Gaza Strip, occupying a 50th of the space they used to have, before the Israelis invaded their land.

LONE PINE, Calif. - Oral histories of Native Americans and U.S. Cavalry records offer insights into a horrific massacre here in 1863: Thirty-five Paiute Indians were chased into Owens Lake by settlers and soldiers to drown or be gunned down. But the records are silent on one important point. Exactly where did the massacre occur on the moonlit night of March 19, 1863? An archaeological find in what is today a vast alkali playa has revealed a cache of bullets, musket balls, cavalry uniform buttons and Native American artifacts that Paiute tribal members and researchers believe are evidence of the grim chapter in Owens Valley history.

The early American settlers called it "the starving time," and accounts of the winter of 1609-1610 were so ghastly, and so morbid, that scholars weren't sure if the stories were true. George Percy, then president of the English settlement of Jamestown in Virginia, wrote that settlers ate horses, then cats and dogs, then boots and bits of leather, and, finally, one another. "One of our colony murdered his wife, ripped the child out of her womb and threw it into the river, and after chopped the mother in pieces and salted her for his food," wrote Percy, who then ordered the man executed.

The phone jangles in the bright white-walled computer shop off Hillhurst Avenue, and Ariel Belkin picks it up. "Los FEE-lus Hi-Tech," he says. "This is Ariel. " After the call comes his confession. Photos: It's all in the name The 30-year-old tech whiz, who also plays guitar in a band, moved to Los Feliz from the Valley a year and a half ago. Back then, he resolved to pronounce his new neighborhood as Los Fey-LEASE. The Spanish pronunciation, he says, is the "the right way. " But pretty soon he caved to the weird stares and smug corrections from locals and switched to the more common anglicized pronunciation.

Re "A first step in Hebron," editorial, Jan. 20 The Jewish settlers being removed from Hebron are illegally living in Palestinian-owned buildings and shops; they're no better than common thieves. As a Jewish American, I am revolted by the arrogance of those settlers who think that they can steal a person's property simply because that person is Palestinian. That is not the lesson taught us by the prophet Isaiah, who preached universal justice. The Israeli government is correct in removing the settlers and restoring the property to its rightful and legal owners.

Sitting at his computer, security officer Nitsan Brizel pans his remote surveillance cameras out to the main road below the West Bank settlement of Nili, then zooms back in to focus on a Palestinian worker at one of the construction sites in the expanding community. Brizel and other security officials in Israel's West Bank settlements are on high alert these days as Palestinians prepare to launch large demonstrations in support of their bid Friday for United Nations membership. Some fear the effort will trigger another violent Palestinian uprising, particularly if it is rejected.

LONE PINE, Calif. - Oral histories of Native Americans and U.S. Cavalry records offer insights into a horrific massacre here in 1863: Thirty-five Paiute Indians were chased into Owens Lake by settlers and soldiers to drown or be gunned down. But the records are silent on one important point. Exactly where did the massacre occur on the moonlit night of March 19, 1863? An archaeological find in what is today a vast alkali playa has revealed a cache of bullets, musket balls, cavalry uniform buttons and Native American artifacts that Paiute tribal members and researchers believe are evidence of the grim chapter in Owens Valley history.

David Wilder asks why he and his fellow settlers must leave Hebron ("Why Stay in a Place of Fear? It's Home," Commentary, July 11). Hmmm. Perhaps because the settlements in the occupied territories violate international law. Perhaps because a few hundred religious fanatics should not be allowed to hold a city of 100,000 people, and the peace process, hostage. Perhaps because the Hebron settlers are largely a gang of hoodlums who love to terrorize and provoke the indigenous population.

Regarding "No Scheme Behind the Indians' Fate" (June 1): If Indians did not want to integrate with whites, that was their choice. If I told letter writer Steven Foster to integrate with whomever, with no choice about it, how would he react? Foster talked about settler necessity, but he failed to realize that killing settlers was probably the only way the Indians thought they could survive. His last remark, "If they had won, you'd be vacationing somewhere else," is so callous and irresponsible that it is beyond comprehension.

Shouting "traitor" and "go home," enraged Jewish settlers jeered Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and nearly drowned out his speech today at the funeral of a slain U.S.-born Israeli citizen. Hundreds of Jews attended the tumultuous service for Frederick Rosenfeld, who was stabbed to death Saturday while hiking in an isolated area near the settlement of Ariel in the Israeli-occupied West Bank where he lived. While Rosenfeld's wooden casket was being lowered into a grave, several flag-waving Israelis yelled for revenge and a change in the government.

The early American settlers called it "the starving time," and accounts of the winter of 1609-1610 were so ghastly, and so morbid, that scholars weren't sure if the stories were true. George Percy, then president of the English settlement of Jamestown in Virginia, wrote that settlers ate horses, then cats and dogs, then boots and bits of leather, and, finally, one another. "One of our colony murdered his wife, ripped the child out of her womb and threw it into the river, and after chopped the mother in pieces and salted her for his food," wrote Percy, who then ordered the man executed.

Aspiring astronauts and wannabe reality TV stars, take note: A nonprofit that aims to send the first human colonists to Mars by 2023 will start taking applications in July of this year. Mars One, the Netherlands-based organization that wants to turn the colonizing of Mars into a global reality television phenomenon, is encouraging anyone who is interested in space travel to apply. Previous training in space travel is not required, nor is a science degree of any sort, but applicants do need to be at least 18 years of age and willing to leave Earth forever.

The bigger the fight between a screenwriter and a director, the better the picture. It's an arrant generalization but not necessarily an errant one. Look at Budd Schulberg's battles with "On the Waterfront," or Robert Towne's over the ending of "Chinatown," or most if not all the writers on director Otto Preminger's best movies - few if any of whom could stand ever to work with him again. "The Searchers," which many critics and filmmakers consider the best western ever made, was written by a former film critic named Frank Nugent.

JERUSALEM - Israel's government is scrambling to find ways to save some of the unauthorized West Bank settlements it once promised to dismantle, including some that are built partly on private Palestinian land. The new strategy seeks to retroactively legalize some outposts and, in other cases, relocate Jewish settlers to nearby land that is not privately owned, in effect creating what critics say would be the first new West Bank settlements in years. The approach by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition government appears designed to avoid the need to carry out high-profile military evictions of settlers in order to appease conservative lawmakers, who have accused Netanyahu of betraying the settlers' cause.

For months many Israelis shrugged off the mosque burnings, the uprooted Palestinian olive trees and even the death threats against Jewish leftists. But when young settlers this month vandalized army bases and stoned Israeli soldiers, the question of Jewish terrorism turned into a national emergency. The recent flare-up in settler violence has puzzled many because it comes when there are no peace talks that might lead to land concessions, Palestinian attacks in the West Bank have dropped to new lows, and Israel is led by a conservative government that is expanding settlement construction.

Uan Rasey Trumpet player in 'Chinatown' and other films Uan Rasey, 90, a first-call trumpet player for MGM and other studio orchestras best known for his evocative solo in Roman Polanski's 1974 film "Chinatown," died Sept. 26 at Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center, said his grandson Tristan Verstraeten. The Studio City resident hadheart problems. Besides soloing in composerJerry Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated score for "Chinatown," Rasey played trumpet for many other film soundtracks, including "An American in Paris," "Ben-Hur," "Bye Bye Birdie," "Cleopatra," "Gigi," "How the West Was Won," "My Fair Lady," "Singin' in the Rain," "Spartacus" and "West Side Story.

Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Wednesday ordered the closing of a West Bank newspaper for Jewish settlers because, he said, it incited its readers to revolt against the government. The paper, Aleph Yud, published an article last Sunday predicting the outbreak of a civil war if the authorities try to give up any of the territory Israel captured in the Six-Day War of 1967. The newspaper's editor, Yaakov Rahamim, said in an interview that the article was meant to warn, not incite.

"A Time to Move, and Move On" (editorial, April 3) is a rare display of mostly balanced American journalism. It stands on the side of peace, coexistence and justice in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is striking however that your editorial ignores U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 and the Geneva Convention, which state that the occupation and building of settlements on occupied lands are illegal. Our recent wars in the Persian Gulf, and pressure to force Syrian troops out of Lebanon, invoked U.N. resolutions.

Sitting at his computer, security officer Nitsan Brizel pans his remote surveillance cameras out to the main road below the West Bank settlement of Nili, then zooms back in to focus on a Palestinian worker at one of the construction sites in the expanding community. Brizel and other security officials in Israel's West Bank settlements are on high alert these days as Palestinians prepare to launch large demonstrations in support of their bid Friday for United Nations membership. Some fear the effort will trigger another violent Palestinian uprising, particularly if it is rejected.

The new baseball season is almost upon us. And, as a fan and a history buff, what continues to disturb me is that Los Angeles' team is nonsensically called the Dodgers. That name is a vestige of nostalgia for a time when Brooklyn fans of the team had to dodge heavy trolley car traffic to enter Ebbetts Field. It has no relationship to Los Angeles or meaning for local fans. And given that a messy divorce custody battle could lead to the team changing hands in the near future, this former Brooklynite asks, why not change the name now?