Israel and Gaza   Patrick Seale ("Israel's scandalous siege of Gaza," Views, Oct. 28) has no problem with Palestinians electing Hamas, an admitted terrorist group, to lead their government. Yet for Israel to have a right-wing thinker who has never harmed anyone in its government is anathema.  What's wrong with this picture?  If the Palestinians threw their weapons into the sea today there would be peace tomorrow. If Israel did the same, the country would be wiped out.  Stuart Pilichowski Mevaseret Zion, Israel   Patrick Seale mistakes cause with effect. From his article, one gets the impression that Israel is acting out of malice in Gaza. Nonsense.  Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and was rewarded with Qassam rocket attacks. The Hamas government refuses to halt the violence or negotiate on previously accepted terms. Israel has no choice but to pre-empt suicide bombings, to strike back against missile fire, and to interdict arms trafficking.  Seale tries to scare us with bogeymen: Avigdor Lieberman, a new deputy prime minister, and General Dan Halutz, the army chief of staff. More terrifying are politicians who sacrifice their constituents on the altar of martyrdom, whether in Lebanon, Gaza or Iran.  Until a critical mass of Palestinians and their supporters agree to stop attacks, there will be Israeli reprisals. Until they allocate more resources to food and infrastructure than to weapons, there will be poverty.  Adam S. Glantz, Herndon, Virginia  Regarding Daoud Kuttab's "Bread or democracy" (Views, Oct. 28): The writer says of Hamas that it is "not willing to legitimize Israel while it is occupying Palestinian lands." This is true. However, by Palestinian lands, Hamas does not mean the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, it means the entire state of Israel.  In addition, the international siege has been placed on Hamas not because it refuses to recognize Israel, but rather because it refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, and because it will neither renounce terrorism nor abide by previously signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.  Elizabeth Yuval Kiriyat Tivon, Israel  Could Patrick Seale tell us what the life of Palestinians would be like today if they had accepted Israel in 1948 or at any time since? What would have been if Palestinians had not sent suicide bombers and rockets into Israel?  And to Daoud Kuttab, I would say that the Palestinians would not have needed handouts if they had not allowed themselves to be led by unwise politicians.  Cooperating with Israel would have made them not only financially independent but very rich. Palestinians are well-educated, intelligent and hard- working. Hand-in-hand with the Jews, they would have created a paradise.  Giuseppe Modiano, London  Patrick Seale's biased article about Israel and Gaza may contain truthful elements, but it would have been far more credible if the writer had mentioned that the Palestinians in Gaza are at least partly responsible for the current situation. If the Palestinians hadn't kidnapped an Israeli soldier and continued to fire rockets into Israel, would Israel be as intransigent as it has been?  Seale's bias shows in phrases like "the shameful boycott of the democratically elected Hamas government," without explaining why it is "shameful" to boycott a government whose aim is the entire destruction of Israel.  Is Israel supposed to help Hamas by giving it the financial means to carry out its promised goal? That would be suicide.  Ken Cowan, Paris