Mideast Atrocities / Letters to The Editor
The Washington Post
Tuesday, April 16, 2002; Page A18
"Israeli soldiers strictly enforce a curfew, to the point that someone who sticks his or her head out a window risks losing it." That was one of the more chilling statements in The Post's eye-opening April 12 news story documenting the killing by Israeli gunfire of a mother in Ramallah, as well as other Palestinian civilian casualties.
But another, in the form of a question, was even more telling: "How abundantly has this operation fed a lust for revenge . . . among Palestinians related to civilian victims?"
Both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have seen tragic deaths, destruction and terror. But Ariel Sharon's defiance of President Bush by continuing his military aggression against Palestinians is not deterring suicide bombers and instead may provoke further waves of violence from revenge-seeking Palestinians.
There's little doubt about it: Mr. Sharon's siege in the West Bank is making things worse. It must end, for the sake of Israel's long-term security.
Obviously President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell haven't stressed this forcefully enough.
DOUGLAS RULE
Washington
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The Post's April 10 front-page account and photos of the devastation in Jenin, West Bank, remind me of my childhood years in the Warsaw Ghetto. There, too, innocent civilians were shot on sight, houses were blown up indiscriminately, and humanitarian aid was blocked. At the end of that horrendous Holocaust, we said, "Never again." But now, it is we who are doing it again. For shame!
ALEX HERSHAFT
Bethesda
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Max Kampelman's call for truthfulness in dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict ["Needed: Honest Peacemaking," op-ed, April 13] typifies the prevarication of Israeli apologists.
Palestinian suffering has nothing to do with Israeli policy? Excuse me? Israeli policy carved a Jewish homeland from the homeland of Palestinians. That's the simple truth and the crux of the matter.
Now it's time to carve a Palestinian homeland from what remains -- the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians need a viable, sovereign state, with their own army, secure borders and control over their own resources, particularly water. Israel has never offered that; the Barak proposal fell far short.
Unless the United States forces it to, the cycle of violence will be endless -- and might again reach American shores. Mr. Bush should take heed if he truly wants to win the war on terrorism.
HUTCH BROWN
Arlington
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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