Conflict in West Bank

Re “Israeli Rocket Fire Claims Life of First Foreigner,” Nov. 17:

I find two sentences curious: “The attack [on a Palestinian village] was in response to Palestinian gunmen who had begun firing Wednesday afternoon at Gilo, just south of Jerusalem.” And, Palestinians “see themselves as victims of a never-ending attack.” Am I missing something here? Wouldn’t Palestinians not be attacked, and therefore not be victims of a never-ending attack, if they themselves would not attack first?

ALBERT A. TRUNK

Los Angeles

*

The Times renders its readers a disservice in describing Israeli settlements as “communities.” The international community has, with dozens of U.N. resolutions since 1967, rightly named them as “settlements.” This is precisely because they are built on confiscated land. This current mayhem is not a matter of Israel being “besieged.” Rather, it is occurring on Palestinian soil, overwhelmingly victimizing Palestinian Christians and Muslims whose uprising is not so much a battle of religions as it is a human rights struggle for freedom and independence. It’s time to end the violence of the occupation.

DARREL MEYERS

Burbank