Danny Wakil, Billinudgel
Gareth Smith, you are clearly very passionate, but constantly providing incredibly one-sided opinions, and half-truths get us nowhere (14 July). I am factual and feel the pain of both Palestinians and Israelis.
Every Jew in the world, unless they’ve converted to Judaism, has DNA linking them to the land of Israel and Judea. Every one of them, even if they migrated to Europe etc over the centuries. Jews are indigenous to the land and it is as simple as that. Both Palestinians and Israelis deserve to live side-by-side in peace. Neither side is going anywhere, and peace will bring prosperity to all.
Hamas wants to kill every Jew in the world, not just in Israel, and they regularly state this. These are the people you love and support.
It was confirmed that in the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, over half of the dead in Gaza were combatants, but still, every death is a tragedy that could have been avoided. Palestinian civilians too were sadly killed, but only because Hamas fighters use them as human shields.
Many Palestinians and Arabs worldwide hate Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. They know they are responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people, including all deaths on both sides.
‘Hamas authorities routinely arrest and torture peaceful critics and opponents with impunity’, Human Rights Watch said in March 2019, when Hamas crushed a protest against them by Gazan people, as reported in the New York Times. Hamas is nothing less than a death cult. Fight for the Palestinian people by fighting to replace their leaders.
Peace is the only answer.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
