Kellerman on Prejudice Against Jewish Settlers

Re “Settlers Bear Brunt of Violence, Anti-Semitism,” Commentary, May 23: Jonathan Kellerman crying wolf here is outrageous. It is one thing to move into a neighborhood and quite another to do it using an army and an air force. It is completely disingenuous to paint Jewish settlers as helpless victims by scrupulously omitting the fact that the Israeli army rules the territories with an iron fist. Kellerman turns reality on its head to accuse members of an occupied population of prejudice when they have been subjected to daily violations of their human rights for 30 years. The Palestinians are subjected to outright oppression by the Israeli military, while settlers confiscate their land and violate their rights.

Surely Palestinians would be just as angry if the occupiers who were conducting arbitrary arrests, house demolitions, state-sanctioned torture, land confiscation and the rest of the well-documented violations of international law were from anywhere else in the world. Israel should leave these territories now so that a Jewish state can reflect Jewish values in action as well as name.

Rick Chertoff

Van Nuys