Israelis Are Condoning Assaults on Civilians

Re “Israeli Army Investigates Shooting of a Palestinian Matriarch,” Dec. 4: A 95-year-old Palestinian great-grandmother, Fatima Hassan, was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier near Ramallah. The announcement by the Israel Defense Forces of an investigation of the incident at the highest levels sounds encouraging, but talk of any such investigation is a fantasy.

A few weeks ago, while walking peacefully in a Palestinian olive grove, I was viciously attacked and robbed at gunpoint by a gang of young thugs from an illegal Israeli settlement near Nablus. Also attacked and beaten was James Delaplain, a 74-year-old Wisconsin grandfather. This attack took place under the watchful eyes of Israeli soldiers who were under orders to protect Palestinians and international peace workers as we attempted to harvest olives on Palestinian land.

Israeli police who investigated indicated they knew who the troublemakers at the Itamar settlement were and promised to do everything possible to apprehend and prosecute the punks. Later, the police chief said it was too bad we didn’t have photographs of our attackers. (My camera was stolen from me, along with my passport, plane ticket and all my money.) The execution of Hassan will not be investigated, and murders like hers will continue unabated so long as the U.S. continues to finance and support Israel’s brutal ethnic cleansing campaign.

Mary Hughes-Thompson

Los Angeles

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Yossi Klein Halevi’s notion of an “outdated domination theology” is commendable, but he is incorrect in presuming it to be the sole property of Islam (Commentary, Dec. 4). Christianity, in addition to its threats of hell, exerts its so-called morality in the political arena (reproductive rights, Pledge of Allegiance); there’s also Judaic politics and money that subsidize the Zionist theocracy at the expense of the American taxpayer. Fundamentalism is available in all flavors.

After millenniums of suffering at the hands of organized religion, and countless wars and deaths over “holy land,” why are we repeating an ancient historical lesson? The holy texts and histories of all three of these religions document the dominator agenda they have in common. How about thinking for ourselves for a while?

Tommy Galloway

Hollywood

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Re William McCall’s Dec. 4 letter blaming Israel for the Nov. 28 terrorist attack in Kenya: Since when does one country’s actions justify the killing of innocents a continent away? May I remind him that there were more Kenyans killed in the bomb blast than Israelis? If one feels that Ariel Sharon is the sole cause of all Middle East ills, then the only person to blame is Yasser Arafat. If he had not walked away from Camp David and incited an uprising, Israelis would have never felt compelled to elect Sharon. Arafat’s actions -- and inactions -- have put Sharon in the high chair, have kept his approval ratings up and will certainly reelect him Jan. 28.

Aaron Resnick

Los Angeles