Here's a letter to the editor I sent to the Washington Post in response to this article about Mitt Romney's comments about Palestinian culture. I will update if it is published.
Double Standards for Israel
Reading
Marc A. Thiessen’s August 1st article “There was no Romney gaffe in
Israel” begs the question: would Mr. Thiessen support the same standards he
applies to Palestinians if they were applied to Israel?
For
example, Thiessen justifies Israel’s blockade, which has been estimated to cost
Gaza’s economy $2 billion a year [1],
and Israel’s illegal trade restrictions in the West Bank by referring to the “culture
of terrorism that permeates the Palestinian territories.” Conspicuously absent
from Thiessen’s account is any mention Israel’s “culture of terrorism” or their
heavily militarized culture and how this may have affected their society.
This
absence is particularly striking when one considers the Israeli human rights
organization B'Tselem estimate
that 6,000 Palestinians have been killed since the year 2000, , which is 5,000
more causalities than Israel has experienced during the same period [2].
With
this in mind, if, as Thiessen suggests, Palestinian terrorism justifies
Israel’s blockade, restriction and occupation of Palestinian territory, do
Palestinians have the right to apply the same policies to Israel?
1. "Israeli occupation hitting Palestinian
economy, claims report,” Harriet Sherwood, The
Guardian,September 29, 2011. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/29/israeli-occupation-hits-palestinian-economy)
