The New York Times-20080125-Finger-Pointing Over the Plight of the Gazans- -Letter-
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Finger-Pointing Over the Plight of the Gazans; [Letter]
To the Editor:
Re Trapped in Gaza (editorial, Jan. 24):
The treatment of the Gazans is, as you say, a disgrace. But who is to blame for the disgrace? Here, two crucial facts have a way of conveniently disappearing.
First, the cause of the Gazans' ordeal is not the inevitable and measured Israeli response to an unrelenting rocket bombardment of Hamas rockets from Gaza; the cause is the bombardment, and that bombardment will continue as long as Hamas deems it essential to its war of attrition on Israel's very existence.
The notion of a measured response needs emphasis here; any other state being forced to die the death of a thousand cuts would long ago have declared total war against its would-be destroyers.
Second, the ordinary citizens of Gaza are not mere pawns in the war of Hamas on the existence of Israel. They have been turned into human shields by the very same Hamas they elected to represent and protect them, but whose hatred of Israel's existence they share.
This blindness is the Gazans' tragedy. The disgrace remains Hamas's alone.
Harold SkulskyForest Hills, Queens, Jan. 24, 2008
To the Editor:
Hamas, the freely elected government of Gaza, rules the strip with an iron hand. Should Hamas wish to cease the terrorist rain of rocket fire on Israel, it can do so with a moment's notice.
It is the people of Gaza who are the innocent pawns in Hamas's violent chess match. If the Annapolis initiative crumbles, it will be because for too long the Palestinians have tried to avoid the reality that there are consequences for actions -- and in particular, actions that are under their control.
David M. HirschProvidence, R.I., Jan. 24, 2008
