Legalize organ sales

Sir, - There is a way to stop organ trafficking in kidneys ("Got a kidney to spare? Alleged Jerusalem organ traffickers nabbed," November 6.

If it were legal to sell your kidney directly to ADI, the National Transplant Registry of the Ministry of Health, then there would be no need for brokers, out of the country transplant operations, or any illegal activities. It would be a win-win situation: Donors would be financially compensated legally by the Ministry of Health, the much needed kidneys would be legally given to the next suitable candidate on the list, and many lives would be saved.

There are 5,000 Israelis on dialysis today - 800 of them, including children, are on the transplant list, and 10% of them will die this year for lack of a kidney. In the Mishna, tractate Sanhedrin, it is written: He who saves a life, it as though he has saved an entire world. Isn't it time that Israel act on this?

JUDITH NUSBAUM
Rishon Lezion

Citizenship rights

Sir, - "The double lives of Jewish converts in Israel" (November 8) raises some very delicate and important legal issues regarding citizenship for Jews in Israel under the Law of Return.

While according to Jewish religious law, the Halacha, there is to be no difference between one who is born Jewish and one who converts to Judaism, there is and perhaps should be a rather great difference under Israeli civil law especially as regards the right to citizenship in our country. Israel has become a First World democratic nation by every possible indicator, and a prized destination for many of the world's disadvantaged.

While no one is suggesting that an improved economic and educational situation is the motivation of most converts to Judaism who choose to come on aliya, it would be naive and unrealistic to suggest that this possibility doesn't exist and to demand that the Israeli civil authorities not take legal steps to prevent it. Israel, like every other sovereign nation, has every legal right to determine the criteria of citizenship, how that citizenship may be obtained, and what citizenship consists of in terms of rights, entitlements, and obligations.

KENNETH BESIG
Kiryat Arba

All the victims

Sir, - I have been following the case of Ami Ortiz over the past 18 months and was very pleased to see that at last the alleged perpetrator had finally been arrested. But now I notice that Ortiz's name was left out of the list of victims in your reporting ("Teitel court hearing closed to public," November 5). Why is this?

I implore you to report all and everything regarding this case.

VENESSA HOFMANN
Australia

The editor writes: This was one of numerous letters received on this subject. The article in question did not include a list of the specific crimes allegedly committed by Ya'acov Teitel. An article in the next day's Jerusalem Post, which did list the specific allegations ("Police clear Yosef Espinoza, suspected Teitel accomplice"), included mention of the Ortiz case.

So, let him quit...

Sir, - In spite of the extremely generous peace offer by Ehud Barak in 2000 to Yasser Arafat, and the even more generous offer by Ehud Olmert to Mahmoud Abbas in 2008, both were rejected by the PA. Abbas now declares the "peace process a failure" and threatens to dismantle the PA (November 8).

There were two reasons why both offers were rejected by the PA:

1. Neither offer gave the Palestinians rights to settle all their "refugees" in Israel. 2. In accepting the offer, the PA would be required to declare that the conflict is over, and that it had no further claims against Israel.

It isn't a matter of real estate or even rights in Jerusalem. The Palestinians want to settle their millions of so-called refugees in Israel, thereby becoming the majority in Israel. And if this isn't enough, they want to continue the conflict until every Jew has been expelled from Israel.

I ask the government of Israel to stand firm and not to start begging Abbas not to quit and dismantle the PA.

ABRAHAM BROT
Petah Tikva

... It's his fault

Sir, - Seeking to threaten the Israeli government by declaring that he will not go to negotiations unless there is an absolute freeze on all settlements, Abbas has made it impossible for any Israel government to deal with him. His petulance has led even the United States to recognize that he wants all of Israel or nothing, and his attitude will only bring disaster for his people.

THELMA SUSSWEIN
Jerusalem

... And Derfner should know better

Sir, - What does Larry Derfner know about how it is to live in Sderot or Ashkelon and its environs and be the constant recipients of daily deadly missiles fired from Gaza, and about what this constant barrage does to people, especially to women and children? It is the responsibility of every government to protect their citizens ("Some victims we are," October 29).

Who is to blame for the poor state of affairs of the Palestinians? We accepted the UN vote to divide the country into two states, one for the Muslims and one for the Jews, but they rejected it. To this day, they reject our right to be here. We want nothing more than to live in peace with them, but even after our own unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, instead of starting to build their own country, they continue with their terrorism and vow to wipe us off the map.

MIKE AYL
Ashkelon

The shidduch financial crisis

Jonathan Rosenblum ("Confronting 'the shidduch crisis'," November 4) attributes the crisis of shidduchim in the haredi world to an age gap of three to four years between men and women seeking matches. Were singles to seek out mates of their own age, the gap and the crisis would disappear.

Rosenblum notes that 10 years post graduation, 10 percent of haredi girls post high school are unwed. Did Rosenblum think to look at the earning power of these girls, the parents' financial situation and that of the extended family? The single most important issue in shidduchim is money. Yeshiva heads encourage young men to seek a life of learning. To do so, young men seek women of means. Parents of the "better boys" can demand upwards of $100,000, wedding expenses, a furnished apartment and ongoing support for the couple and the family to be. Many haredi families lack the means to provide the necessary funds for their daughters and the daughters are not willing to compromise in accepting men of the "lesser tier" with whom they are incompatible.