Pro-Palestinian folks are traitors?

In his letter to the editor in the September 5 Addison Independent, Hal Cohen asserts that those who support the Palestinians’ right to exist are actually Hamas supporters and are therefore traitors. He suggests that if you are pro-Palestinian, you are therefore pro-Hamas and are thus aiding those who killed American Citizens.

I’m one of those college professors (retired), who asserts that one can support both Israel’s and a hoped-for nation of Palestine’s right to exist while decrying Hamas as a terrorist organization that needs to be stopped. And I also assert that Israel’s scorched-earth policy in Gaza and militant oppression in the West Bank is indefensible. It is hard not to believe that the actual goal is to drive the Palestinians out of their homeland by leveling the ground on which they live, rendering the land unlivable.

Today on Fareed Zakaria’s Global Public Square, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Almert and former Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwar presented a peace proposal that included an immediate end to the fighting, a complete prisoner exchange, a path to a two-state solution, and the rebuilding of Gaza, leading to peace and reconciliation that would benefit both Palestinians and Israelis. That is what many of us are advocating as well.

Finally, Cohen’s characterization of Palestinians as a homicidal homophobic society and Israelis as a virtuous, diverse society that teaches life over death and tolerance, does not reflect reality. To gain a more balanced perspective, I recommend two books, “The Lemon Tree,” by Sandy Tolan, and “Blood Brothers,” by Elias Chacour.

Richard Butz

Bristol