Gee, I feel bad for those "unarmed people" who are firing those rockets straight at the Israelis. Maybe Sal's right, the Israelites should just stop defending themselves, just like we should stop defending ourselves (after all, that's what left us so open on 9/11, 8 years of military cuts).
Hard to blame Gazans considering how they’ve been treated
The TV news once again failed to truthfully explain the situation concerning the massacre in Gaza. Israel would not allow reporters in the war zone, and that further complicated unbiased, accountable information. In addition, the United Nations withdrew from the scene due to [the] killing of two drivers in a clearly marked U.N. vehicle. Hamas was once supported by Israel and won a carefully monitored, honest and fair election. The United States and Israel did not approve of the results, so they stopped all support and pulled the rug out from under them. Together, they created a policy of isolation and destabilization that prevented Hamas from effective governance. Little effort was made to solve problems diplomatically. Most people living in Gaza are not there by choice! The majority of the 1.5 million people came from outside towns. They were driven out of their homes by the Israeli army in 1948. Since then, Gaza has been contained in a type of concentration camp, blockaded and prevented from economic development; it is forced to rely on outside sources for 80 percent of its needs. The poverty rate has reached 70 percent and malnutrition is the same as in the poorest countries in southern Africa. Half the families subsist on one meal a day. Hamas did respect a cease-fire for some time — but nothing was done to improve conditions. Hamas could be classified as a “terrorist group” or “freedom fighters.” Israel had many similar groups in its own struggle for statehood. The world rejoiced when Israel became a state in 1948. Their suffering and dying was a horror under Hitler’s rule. Unfortunately, the Palestinians were not equally supported in their right to their own country. This has formulated the enormous consequences we reap today. Israel now occupies about 77 percent of the land, and while it has relinquished some settlements built on Palestinian land, it is not giving back the rest — creating an apartheid situation for a viable state. Asia, Europe, and especially the United States, Israel’s greatest benefactor, should support and require Israel to adopt and honor U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, confirming the inadmissibility of acquisition of land by force, the withdrawal from occupied territories, and the right of all states to live in peace with secure and recognized borders, with justice for all of the displaced refugees. The death and destruction must not continue, or the whole Middle East may become the graveyard for our civilization . MARY JANE VALACHOVIC Schenectady
When the people in Gaza supported Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, they voted for violence as a way to deal with Israel, maybe they should adopt the golden rule instead of following Jihad so there could be peace in that region again in the future.
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