The Gazette letter ("Stop tolerating injustice") from Gwen Harrison of Yukon on June 9 pretends to take Israel from victim to villain. The 7 million Israelis live in a region of the world surrounded by 600,000 million hostile neighbors. Since its establishment in 1947, Israel's neighbors have attacked Israel five times with formal wars, and most recently with thousands of rockets raining down on the north of Israel from Iran's and Syria's Hezbollah client-state of Lebanon, and thousands more on Israel's southern border shot from Iran's Hamas client-state of Gaza.
In each instance, Israel has defended itself because there is no other place to go. It is not as Harrison states, that "Israel is determined to take all of Palestine," but rather Israel's stated enemies, including the terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas, have repeatedly stated that they want to push Israel into the sea.
A two-state solution can be achieved, but the first step must the ceasing of terror attacks and a real commitment to the recognition of Israel's right to exist within safe and secure borders.
"Michael Barlow
Edmond
