A few suggestions

Your April 28 editorial “Getting away with murder” deals with the Palestinian Authority’s use of funds supplied by the United States and many other countries.

It points out that most of these funds are used to support terrorism and reward the terrorists and their families for these acts. It suggests that the US Congress is considering reducing or canceling grants unless the PA chooses between supporting terrorism and “investing in better governance” – though nothing is mentioned as to what would represent good governance.

I would like to suggest what the PA should and could do to benefit its citizens and justify the enormous grants it receives.

It says it wants a state but never comes to serious discussions with Israel as to achieving that state. It should use the funds to set up a state.

First, the Palestinians should build their own settlements in Area A. They have built one city and they should build many, many more to provide decent housing for their citizens and house some of the “refugees” they want repatriated.

Then they should establish industries to manufacture products they could use or export. This would provide places to work for the large number of unemployed and the large number of Palestinians who enter Israel every day to find work.

They should also finance the development of agricultural areas to grow their own produce and build hospitals and medical facilities to provide proper health care to their citizens.

These and other steps, if taken, would be the start of a state.

There is nothing to prevent the Palestinian Authority from doing what is outlined. If it did this, its foreign supporters would not be considering canceling or reducing their grants, but would most enthusiastically increase them. This would be a major step toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Yet it is not solely a lack of funding that is preventing the Palestinians from establishing a state; it is their all-or-nothing policy.

If they started to use the funds granted to them in a positive way and stopped supporting and rewarding terrorism against Israelis, it would be a giant step to ending the Middle East crisis. JEROME POLLOCK

Modi’in