As a Jewish woman, I learned as a child the myth that there was nobody in Palestine when the state of Israel was formed in 1948. In my 20s, that myth was shattered when I learned that 750,000 Palestinians were evicted from their homes when Israel was founded, and that there were mass murders in Palestinian villages.
There is no justification for the attack by Hamas. But this conflict did not just start a few weeks ago. We must address the root cause of this conflict: the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel, and the ongoing oppression of the Palestinians.
The U.S. should do everything it can to de-escalate the war in Gaza; we should not be sending more arms to Israel. Our country should not be party to the collective punishment of innocent lives in Gaza. The best way to deprive the terrorists of support is to push Israel toward ending its illegal occupation, ongoing settler provocations, and oppression of the Palestinian people.
The world seems no longer to care about the plight of the Palestinians — it is easy to see how the Abraham Accords and the Saudi-Israel rapprochement might convince the Palestinians that they are abandoned. This breeds desperation. The U.S. should be using this moment of crisis to signal to Israel that further aid will be conditioned on Israel’s compliance with international law.
Francine Miller
South Royalton
