John Scrivener, Main Arm
Desmond Bellamy’s letter (June 12) is the sort of morally bankrupt and dissembling response we get from Israel’s apologists. Yes, atrocities happen elsewhere, but that doesn’t justify the crimes of the Zionist regime.
I challenge Desmond to cite a single historical fact about Palestine that has appeared in The Echo in recent weeks, while over a hundred Palestinians have been shot dead and more than two thousand crippled by Israeli snipers, for protesting the illegal occupation and decade-long siege of Gaza.
Apart from occasional letters by Gareth Smith I haven’t seen any letters or articles in The Echo that have noted this slaughter of defenceless civilians. It’s this paucity of information that I have sought to redress with my letters.
There are such things as suppressed histories. I think it’s necessary to expose historical facts relevant to intractable conflicts, because knowledge and understanding are essential prerequisites to conflict resolution.
Israel is a shining star of freedom in a region largely devoid of it.
In truth, Israel is a veritable social justice Shangri-La compared to the rest of the Arab Middle East.