Letters: Israel vs. the Palestinians

Re “Erased by Israel,” Opinion, Nov. 18

It is alarming to see educators in this country like UCLA professor Saree Makdisi embrace blatant propaganda in articles about Israel. He uses language intended to imply a form of genocide, referring to Israel’s “long-standing wish to erase the Palestinian presence,” “acts of eradication,” “acts of violence,” Israel’s desire to “ground an entire people into the dust” and the “suffocation and erasure” of the Palestinian people.

The irony is not lost on this reader.

It is the Palestinian government and elected terrorist leadership that have advocated Jewish genocide. Indeed, wiping Israel “off the face of the map” has been the mantra for decades, and suicide bombings have been the mechanism through which they try to achieve this.

Equating Israel’s actions in the West Bank to the “eradication” of a people as a way to support the Palestinian goal of destroying Israel would be laughable if it were not so terrifying.

Rena Kreitenberg

Los Angeles

The pen is mightier than the sword, and no amount of stone-throwing by Palestinian teenagers will help their case for a homeland as much as writers like Makdisi who come to their defense.

The damage to Palestinians’ livelihood by the destruction of 38,000 olive trees in the last four years is utterly incomprehensible. On top of that, the building of settlement after settlement undermines the basis for a peaceful outcome. Worst is Israel denying Palestinians the basic right to dig new wells while it uses 80% of the West Bank’s groundwater.

What we cannot understand is that Arabs have coexisted with Jews for centuries. Why would Israel bulldoze their homes on such a massive scale, rendering many Palestinians homeless? It just does not make sense.

What will the U.S. and its allies do about it?

Cecelia Kennelly-Waeschle

Cliff Waeschle

Beverly Hills

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