Withdraw Israel

Danny Baram’s “America: Take a stand on Israel” gets at least one thing right: “Israel has undoubtedly made mistakes in its fight to defend itself.” Its biggest and longest-continuing mistake is its occupation of Palestinian land and its attempt to make that occupation permanent by establishing settlements on Palestinian territory.

Mr. Baram invites us to “imagine.” OK, let’s imagine. Imagine your town or state occupied by the Israeli army. Imagine having your universities closed by the Israeli occupiers. Imagine the Israelis preventing your parents from going to work or going to shop. Imagine them detaining the ambulances carrying your friends and loved ones to the hospital. Imagine them cutting off the water to your city and giving the Israeli “settlers” priority in the use of public services and utilities in your home town. Imagine them shooting your younger brothers when they throw rocks at patrolling troops. Imagine all of this going on for 30 years with no one taking steps to help you and stop what is clearly an illegal and immoral occupation. If you can imagine this, perhaps you can imagine what drives the Palestinians to make human bombs of themselves in a desperate attempt to push the Israelis off Palestinian territory. The Israeli army and settlers have no more right to be in Ramallah than they have to be in Boston, New York or Chicago.

There will be no painless or easy solution to the problems that have been festering in Palestine for nearly half a century. But the first and most essential step is that the Israeli troops and settlers withdraw from Palestinian territory. Israel cannot reasonably hope to find peace and security while it occupies other people’s land, and it should not expect Americans to support them in this illegal, immoral and, ultimately, doomed policy.