Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 14, 1990                   TAG: 9007160175
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ISRAELI VIOLENCE OUTDOES PRETORIA'S

Mr. Mandela swept through the United States like a monsoon off the China Sea. He left no doubt that his visit was designed to further the African National Congress cause by demanding greater sanctions and money to enforce his demands.

Nelson Mandela, the man who recently embraced Yasser Arafat for his undeclared war on Israel, resorted to violence 27 years ago against the white South African government for the same reasons the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian people are fighting for today: freedom and self-determination. He may have possessed explosives and incited violence, but his actions do not equate with those of the Israeli military and secret police that drag Palestinian families from their beds, then demolish their homes.

Israel vehemently denies and rejects any comparison of the violence in the occupied territories with that of the South African government, but records indicate that illegal imprisonment, vicious beatings and killing of young stone-throwing Palestinians far exceed the actions of the De Klerk government.

Mandela's verbal attack on the white government at this time may be justified; however, he must understand that the De Klerk government, like Gorbachev's, must be changed one step at a time.

We all look forward to the peaceful changes taking place and pray that when sanctions are lifted on South Africa, they will be applied to that arrogant, stiff-necked government of Israel. ROBERT A. HAY RICHMOND