As you may remember, Mr. Cowgill, I spent a summer in Israel some many years ago. While I was there I visited Palestinian refugee camps and participated in discussions with Palestinians and later with Palestinian scholars. The situation of Israel and Palestine is deeply complex and fraught with the burdens of history and the challenges of mid-east politics.
There can be no excuse for terrorism. I condemn Hamas. Israel has every right to defend itself (and this latest manifestation of anti-Israel violence is the worst since the Shoah ). I have friends in Israel and I pray for them and for their families. I pray for the country’s recovery.
That being said, I deplore Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and blockade of Gaza. I remember seeing Begin and Arafat shaking hands and hearing Arafat renounce terrorism,and watching anxiously as the PLO morphed into the Palestinian Authority. Many of us hoped that peace talks would continue and that a solution would be reached. O, how wrong we were! I pray for the Palestinian people.
And as for Harvard, two thoughts: Larry Summers is no longer president of Harvard. And, I am glad that “Social Media “ did not exist when I was in college. Isn’t college where students go to learn, to make mistakes- to grow up?
Wise words, as usual, Mr. O. It is possible to deplore Hamas and also acknowledge certain injustices suffered by the Palestinians. I think we can walk and chew gum, no?
Some of us can walk and chew gum,but I am not sure that all of us can, or even want to…
The Palestinian people have been a political hot potato since 1947. Arab countries have left the Palestinians to twist slowly in the wind. The latest example is the refusal of the Egyptian government to open a corridor to Gaza. Hamas stepped into a leadership vacuum in Gaza, but they do not care about the “Palestinian-in-the-street “. They have proven that their goal is the destruction of the State of Israel, and that they care not one wit, if civilians are caught in the middle of their treachery.
Now you’ve done it, Mr. Cowgill. Can’t get this out of my head. This crisis may be the eventual end of Bibi Netanyahu’s premiership. Bibi’s big thing was/is security, (as in, “I alone can do it.”),but this security failure, coming as it does on the heels of his “overhaul “ of the judiciary,may cost him his job.
As you may remember, Mr. Cowgill, I spent a summer in Israel some many years ago. While I was there I visited Palestinian refugee camps and participated in discussions with Palestinians and later with Palestinian scholars. The situation of Israel and Palestine is deeply complex and fraught with the burdens of history and the challenges of mid-east politics.
There can be no excuse for terrorism. I condemn Hamas. Israel has every right to defend itself (and this latest manifestation of anti-Israel violence is the worst since the Shoah ). I have friends in Israel and I pray for them and for their families. I pray for the country’s recovery.
That being said, I deplore Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and blockade of Gaza. I remember seeing Begin and Arafat shaking hands and hearing Arafat renounce terrorism,and watching anxiously as the PLO morphed into the Palestinian Authority. Many of us hoped that peace talks would continue and that a solution would be reached. O, how wrong we were! I pray for the Palestinian people.
And as for Harvard, two thoughts: Larry Summers is no longer president of Harvard. And, I am glad that “Social Media “ did not exist when I was in college. Isn’t college where students go to learn, to make mistakes- to grow up?
Wise words, as usual, Mr. O. It is possible to deplore Hamas and also acknowledge certain injustices suffered by the Palestinians. I think we can walk and chew gum, no?
Some of us can walk and chew gum,but I am not sure that all of us can, or even want to…
The Palestinian people have been a political hot potato since 1947. Arab countries have left the Palestinians to twist slowly in the wind. The latest example is the refusal of the Egyptian government to open a corridor to Gaza. Hamas stepped into a leadership vacuum in Gaza, but they do not care about the “Palestinian-in-the-street “. They have proven that their goal is the destruction of the State of Israel, and that they care not one wit, if civilians are caught in the middle of their treachery.
Now you’ve done it, Mr. Cowgill. Can’t get this out of my head. This crisis may be the eventual end of Bibi Netanyahu’s premiership. Bibi’s big thing was/is security, (as in, “I alone can do it.”),but this security failure, coming as it does on the heels of his “overhaul “ of the judiciary,may cost him his job.
Agree with you 100%. And Harvard better get its act together.