This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Frances ReMillard's "Israel's betrayal" (Forum, Nov. 24) smacks of gross hypocrisy. ReMillard chastises Israel for its policies to try and stay safe vis-à-vis Gaza.
Five years ago, Israel left Gaza entirely, and what has it received in return? Rockets by the thousands fired randomly from Gaza into Israel, creating fear and destruction. Would Americans stand by for a nanosecond if that were done to us?
ReMillard also forgets that few of the Palestinians who fled Israel back in 1948 are still alive today. Indeed, who is ReMillard to cast the first stone, when ReMillard is as guilty, as are all of us Americans, of stealing the lands of Native Americans from the day the Pilgrims first landed at Plymouth Rock? We teach it in our schools as Manifest Destiny.
Finally, in September 2000 at Camp David, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians peace and their own state. What did Israel receive instead? A violent intifada ordered by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The Palestinians don't want peace. They want the death and total destruction of Israel and will settle for nothing less.
David W. Haughey
Murray