We were all shocked at the brutal deaths of the Fogel family in the West Bank settlement of Itamar near Nablus. I was shocked as well at the exploitation of that violence by Mr. Netanyahu and the Israeli government. That tragedy became an excuse to step up the pace of construction in the West Bank and to accuse Palestinians of incitement. Violence has continued with Israeli attacks in Gaza, missiles fired from Gaza into southern Israel and most recently the explosion of a bomb at a bus stop in Jerusalem. Hope for an end to the occupation and the beginnings of peace recedes farther with each act of violence. I strongly commend a statement by Jewish Voice for Peace regarding this escalation. They correctly point out the pattern of mourning the deaths of Israelis while ignoring the deaths of Palestinians. Go to http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org to read the full statement. Cotton Fite
Thursday, March 24, 2011,
Any act of violence, especially one against civilians, marks a profound failure of human imagination and causes a deep and abiding trauma for all involved. In mourning the nine lives lost in Gaza yesterday, and the one life lost in Jerusalem today, we reject the pattern of condemning the loss of Israeli lives while ignoring the loss of Palestinian life. We do not discriminate. Life is life. One lost life is one life too many-whether Palestinian or Israeli.
