Opposing views of ‘Jerusalem’

Re “The grim logic of Jerusalem,” Opinion, July 10

Having been born in Jerusalem, I fail to understand Bernard Avishai’s sense of right and wrong. In his ramblings on how difficult life is for his friend, Abed, he brushes over 11 suicide attacks in which many Jewish Israelis were blown to pieces.

Why is the comfort of one Arab man more important than the lives of all those who were murdered -- and all those who are saved by the separation barrier built between Arab neighborhoods and Jerusalem?

Betzalel “Bitzy”

N. Eichenbaum

Encino

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Thank you for publishing this essay on the second-class status of Israel’s Arabs.

It bewilders me that the Israeli government and its citizens continue to treat Arabs badly and then evince shock when they react badly. One doesn’t have to condone acts of Palestinian terrorism to point out that discrimination is, if not a cause for terrorism, surely a catalyst.

Of course, The Times is sure to receive many finger-wagging letters, making ethnic and religious generalizations about the Palestinian mind-set, from a pro-Israel lobby whose members live comfortably far from the endless cycle of injustice and violence they stoke. It is because of this context that voices such as Bernard Avishai’s are especially valuable.

Sridhar Subramanian

Goleta