To: New York Times <letters@nytimes.com> Re: Helping Israel by not ignoring its culpability Date: Fri, 29 March 2002 |
Dear
Sir/Madam, I
am probably just as pro Israel as Bob Herbert (lets face it, Jews are a part of
Western Civilisation and we identify and sympathise with them far more than we
do with the Arabs), but in his commentary, “Betraying
Humanity”, in Wednesday’s NYT he is not really helping Israel, or the
rest of us. Rather, by ignoring Israel’s own culpability for the hatred
and violence directed against it, he is helping to perpetuate the situation he
so deplores. The
violence is not complete madness, but largely a reaction to foreign occupation,
humiliation and injustice. After
winning the war, Israel has had more than 30 years to win the peace – and
failed. If a foreign power were occupying America, as Israel is occupying
Palestinian lands, those who sacrificed their lives resisting the occupiers, no
matter how bloody their acts, would be celebrated as heroes, just as the
Palestinians celebrate their martyrs. |