Hardship in Gaza

Re “‘Flowers not allowed’,” Opinion, Dec. 14

Psychiatrist Eyad El-Sarraj erroneously lays the blame on young Israeli soldiers for his hardships rather than on the defective Hamas leadership.

Many Gazans and Israeli soldiers alike share a psychology known in Israel as rosh katan (little head), in which people simply do as they’re told, without much thought. It is precisely because of rosh katan psychology that Gazans so need to see their leadership lay out a vision for a peaceful tomorrow, side by side with Israel. Yet earlier this week, Hamas declared that it has no interest in continuing the existing declared cease-fire with Israel.

The best hope for the region is an enlightened and empowered Palestinian leadership that realizes that its citizens, like El-Sarraj, desire a normal and peaceful relationship with Israel but cannot themselves deliver on its promises: the freedom to travel, to buy flowers, to receive Israeli healthcare and to enjoy the simple pleasures of daily life as it should be.

David Alpern

Long Beach

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I do not understand why El-Sarraj feels that Palestinians living in Gaza have the unassailable right to travel to Israel for healthcare. The people of Gaza, in free elections, chose a terrorist organization to govern.

Hamas lobs rockets at Israel’s southern cities on a regular basis. Why should people who have demonstrated such hostility toward their neighbor expect to freely avail themselves of its superior medical services? It would make more sense for Gazans to look to their Egyptian brethren with whom they are not, in principle, in a state of war.

As for not being allowed to bring flowers home with him, in 2005, flourishing greenhouses were donated to the people of Gaza when Israel left the territory. If, instead of looting and destroying the greenhouse gift, the citizens of Gaza had chosen to cultivate and nurture a beautiful, thriving industry, El-Sarraj would have had more flowers than his arms could hold growing in his own backyard.

Pauline Regev

Santa Monica

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I was glad to open my Sunday paper and find this Op-Ed article.

The situation in Gaza he describes is devastating. The Israeli siege -- which deprives a helpless civilian population of food, medicine and much more -- is despicable.

The Geneva Conventions, to which both the United States and Israel are signatories, ban collective punishment. The failure of the U.S. to insist on an end to the siege of Gaza is a disgrace and a profound moral failure.

Karin Pally

Santa Monica

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One would think that such a siege is unimaginable in today’s world, more so by a country that receives billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

The international community must break this siege, bypassing Israel by land, or sea if possible.

Amir Qureshi

San Jose