Author Presents Other Side of Flotilla Issue

To the Editor:
A recent column in the Cape May County Herald presented one side of the story about a flotilla attempting to enter blockaded Gaza. We should hear both sides of this story. When we only hear one side of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict it is hard to accept facts, which are in complete disagreement with the view that Israel is only defending itself.
In January 2003, a ship, the Karine A, was intercepted carrying 50 tons of weaponry bound for Gaza. Ariel Sharon cried bloody murder and called off any peace negotiations. For two weeks the American media kept this constantly in the news. No mention was made of the $3 billion worth of weaponry we send Israel each year. Israel is the arsenal of the Middle East. Israel is the only country in the Middle East, which has atomic weapons.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, built a wall around it, blockaded most necessities of life, and made life intolerable for the people living there. In 2009 Israel attacked the Gaza Strip, the most densely populated area in the world. A large part of this walled-in prison was destroyed and 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
On June 6, 2006, with the full support of the U.S., a free election was held in Palestine. The U.N. and other international agencies monitored this election. The people elected Hamas. The Israeli’s reaction to this election was to round up those elected and put them in prison. Hamas doesn’t subjugate its people and isn’t responsible for the enmity the Palestinians feel toward Israel. These feelings are generated by the brutal, inhumane, and illegal treatment they receive from Israel.
The writer of the column believes Israel is only defending itself when it prevents ships carrying humanitarian supplies from reaching Gaza. Was Israel defending itself when it bombed Lebanon into oblivion three times in the past 32 years? Is Israel’s illegal policy of transferring its people into Palestine defensive? Why did Israel plant several hundred Israeli settlers and a large contingent of Israeli soldiers into the center of the all Palestinian city of Hebron? Benyamin Allon, an Israeli minister, proposed a law making all Palestinians into Jordanians so they could be legally deported.
The writer tells how Israelites entered “The Promised Land” after spending 40 years in the wilderness. When the Israelites entered Jericho they destroyed everything in it, men and women, young and old; oxen, sheep, donkeys-everything. Today we have a word for what they did-genocide.
ED POWICK
Cape May