This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Our president and members of Congress are again repeating what they have been repeating to the point of nausea — "Israel has the right to defend itself" ("White House: Israel has right to defend itself," Tribune, Nov. 18).
They seem to have forgotten that most of the Palestinians living in Gaza are refugees from Israel. In 1948, Israel accepted United Nations Resolution 181, and again in 1949 it accepted U.N. armistice agreements. Those pacts created the state of Israel, defined its borders and spelled out that Palestinians had the right to live in Israel as citizens with equal rights.
Israel betrayed that promise by immediately placing Palestinians under military law, declaring their land "closed military zones," destroying their homes, driving them into Gaza, imprisoning them behind walls and gates, then attacking them.
I'm tired of my government using my tax dollars to support Israel's deceitful apartheid system that labels as terrorist any Palestinian who challenges that system. It is time to hold Israel accountable.
Palestinians, too, have the right to self-defense, to regain their rights and to regain and live on their land. It is the only path to peace.
Frances ReMillard
Kamas