Assassination on the West Bank

Re “West Bank in Turmoil After Assassination,” Aug. 28: I abhor bombing innocents, but it’s difficult to see what choices are available to Palestinians when the U.S. supplies tanks, aerial gunships, bombs, rockets, cannons, etc. for Israeli aggressions while the Palestinians have nothing but rocks, homemade devices and their bodies. Commentators routinely ignore the astounding fact that Israel is already an unjust aggressor and terrorist in building and occupying settlements on Palestinian land that defy international law and are a finger in the eye of the oppressed.

Israel is an outlaw. Take away its U.S.-supplied cutting-edge weapons and make the sides even. My answer to terrorism everywhere starts with NWMTM, not with my tax money!

Robert J. Brophy

Los Alamitos

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I felt bad that three Palestinian-American families were dazed and shaken after a missle killed a Palestinian terrorist who was also an occupant of their building. The civilian Israeli victims of Mustafa Zibri’s suicide bombers didn’t have the luxury of being shaken because they are dead.

This underscores the difference between the two sides. Israel’s targeted attacks on terrorists may sometimes inadvertently harm civilians, while the Palestinians deliberately murder Israeli civilians.

Why did a known terrorist have his office in a residential apartment building? Palestinian civilian casualties are a direct result of the fact that terrorists hide among the general Palestinian population.

Randy Steinberg

Los Angeles

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Unfortunately we Americans and our media tend to look at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a situation merely of tit for tat, i.e. moral equivalency. But is it? No.

Israel is in a war for survival. Palestinian terrorists randomly bomb Israeli civilians, women and children. Israel retaliates with surgical strikes against one or more terrorist leaders.

Hypothetically, if terrorists based in Canada or Mexico were murdering Americans with bombs, and if the governments of Canada or Mexico did nothing, would the U.S. do any less than Israel? I think not. I hope not.

Devon and Pam Showley

Cypress

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There is a sure-fire way to end the feud between Israel and the Palestinians: One of the contestants must cease to retaliate.

At first glance this would seem to give an advantage to the other side. Not so. The other side would be less inclined to be aggressive if there were no retaliation and, in the face of world opinion, would begin to lose respect for any aggressive behavior. Aggression would dry up as a worthless cause.

Harry Stuehmer

Sun City