LETTER : Lebanon: `pusillanimous' reaction of politicians

Sir: In his report on Israeli military action in the Lebanon (20 April) Robert Fisk asks what world Uri Dromi, the Israeli Government's chief spokesman, is living in.

Certainly he is in a world apart from southern Lebanon which is now bearing the brunt of the unchanging nature of Israeli military doctrine. There he could see practical demonstration of that doctrine as enunciated by David Ben-Gurion in his 1948 War Diary:

There is no question as to whether a reaction is necessary or not ... What is necessary is cruel and strong reactions. We need precision in time, place and casualties. If we know the family - strike mercilessly, women and children included. Otherwise the action is inefficient. At the place of action there is no need to distinguish between guilty and innocent ...

St John Armitage

Wells, Somerset