Arguing about past puts peace on the line
I want to echo Jon Kaufman’s thoughtful comments (“Settlements impede peaceful solution,” Dec. 18) about how current settlement policy in Israel is damaging prospects for peace, contributing to the volatile environment in the region and ignoring international law, as well as long-standing U.S. foreign policy. We can spend time arguing about the past, about who did what to whom, about who lived where and when — or we can advocate right now for steps that move Israel and Palestine toward a better future, toward compromise on both sides, toward a better life for both sides, toward a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side as autonomous neighbors, in peace.
Carol Friedman | Point Reyes Station
Settlements erode chance for resolution
I was born in 1946 in the shadow of the Holocaust, three years before Israel gained its independence. In my early years I felt unequivocally proud of Israel. Besides being a Jewish state protecting my people from another Holocaust, Israel was democratic, with the humane values that were instilled in me by my Jewish upbringing.
In 1967, Israel heroically defeated it enemies, whose goal was her destruction. Victory was not all sweet, however. With it came the burden of occupation over the Palestinian territories. Many of Israel’s great generals and leaders, such as Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon, have understood the necessity of ending the occupation as the only way Israel can remain both a Jewish and democratic state.
Tragically, after almost 50 years, the occupation continues. The Palestinians have often created roadblocks, but as Jon Kaufman so cogently lays out in his op-ed piece, continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories is eroding away the possibility of resolution.
Mark Davidow | Glen Ellen
‘Cowardly dragon’ in story is Abbas
Roger Cohen’s odious comparison of Israel to South Africa unfairly portrays the Jewish state as the obstacle to a two-state solution (“Esteemed N.Y. Times columnist is steamed about Israel,” Dec. 18).
In 2000, Israel offered the Palestinians a state born in peace. It was the Palestinians who rejected it and then cynically cited their lack of a state as justification for bombing Israeli children in schools, buses, discos, malls and pizzerias, killing more than 1,000 Israeli innocents.
Despite the terror, Israel again offered the Palestinians a state in 2001 and 2008. Each time, the Palestinians said no. On Jan. 25, 2012, during secret talks, Israel’s “hard-line” prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly proposed a similar peace plan of his own, but “moderate” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas balked, according to a Feb. 19, 2012 report in Haaretz by Barak Ravid (www.tinyurl.com/haaretz-feb19-2012).
Meanwhile, Abbas has named public squares, schools and sports events after terrorists who massacred Israeli children, glorifying terrorism by honoring monsters as national heroes. And just this year, Abbas incited a wave of deadly stabbing attacks against innocent Israeli Jews by falsely asserting that Israel planned to destroy the al-Aksa mosque and by praising bloodshed as a response to Jews “desecrating” Jerusalem holy sites “with their filthy feet.”
One is reminded of the Ogden Nash verse “The Tale of Custard the Dragon,” in which characters renowned for their purported bravery cower in fear when an actual crisis occurs, while Custard, the “cowardly dragon” who “cried for a nice safe cage,” proves to be a courageous hero. In this case, it is Abbas who is too cowardly to make peace and prefers to incite terror from his “nice safe cage” in Ramallah.
Stephen A. Silver | San Francisco
Better alternatives for elderly dog
Regarding the Nov. 27 Advice Mensch column about hip replacement for an older dog: I’m almost 80, and I have owned German shepherds all my life. I have lost many dogs, some from cancer, some from old age (13, 14.) I did have a dog’s hip replaced. It was expensive, but the dog, who was 7, lived six more happy years. I used a no-interest payment plan. There are resources available through humane societies — Maddie’s Fund in San Francisco and German shepherd rescue organizations. The writer should help his mother get in touch with these organizations, which may be able to find low- or lower-cost care.
A dog cannot be replaced. One gets a new dog, and he/she may be wonderful, but it is different. Especially when an older person has had a dog for a long time, and there are no more kids at home, there is a special bond. A new dog can really be a godsend to re-establish the happy home, but putting down the present dog is a troubling experience. A new, younger dog added to the home, especially because the present dog is compromised, may not be a good idea.
Not all vets are in it just for the money, just as all doctors don’t look only at the dollar sign. I wish Advice Mensch had given his correspondent some information about possible alternatives for the dog’s care.
Marisa Samuels | Walnut Creek
One vote for Trump: Liberal agenda ‘suicidal’
Regarding the Dec. 11 editorial “It’s time to end Trump’s bid for presidency”: As a Jew it’s hard to believe how out of touch so many liberal Jews have become. Especially with this mental disorder of political correctness, obsession and fear of being labeled racist, not loved, or that someone may be offended — at the risk of having our fellow Americans and fellow Jews put at risk of getting killed.
I’m ready to vote for Trump. Telling the uncomfortable truth is not racist, nor is defending yourself and profiling who our mortal enemies are. Of course not all Muslims are terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslim. Thank God we were not P.C. about the Nazis in World War II, or we would be lampshades or speaking German today. Enough of this insane, radical, suicidal liberal agenda.
Aaron Seruya | San Francisco
Double shame
In the Dec. 18 issue J. printed two letters defending and supporting the ideas spouted by Donald Trump. While it is shocking and depressing when Americans show their ignorance of history and support hateful demagogues, it is doubly disgraceful when Jews show that same ignorance.
Daniel Yanow | San Francisco