Tragedy in Santa Ana

The murder of Alex M. Odeh in Santa Ana, against the backdrop of assassination aboard the Achille Lauro in the eastern Mediterranean, communicates the immediacy, proximity and pervasiveness of global terror.

Odeh was a man of peace, committed to the nonviolent resolution of world problems, including those wracking the Middle East, where he was born. His commitment to that cause gave impetus to his role as regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

The bombing is still under investigation, but it is clear that those who planted the bomb that killed him could only have intended death. Whoever they were, they had abandoned the cause of reason and the commitment to justice. That is why their terrible action has so widely deplored, by Jewish leaders as well as Arab, by President Reagan, by Americans of many persuasions.

“We’re all hostages of this kind of violence in the Middle East--Arab-American, Jewish-American,” James G. Abourezk, the former senator from South Dakota who heads the committee, commented. He was correct in one sense. But the commitment to justice and peaceful resolution of disputes can prevail as the violence of terrorism is isolated and prosecuted and denied a ransom for whatever hostages it may try to hold.