Note from The Echo
The Israeli/Palestinian conflict has been a consistent topic of letter writers to The Echo, even before the latest tragic events.
This newspaper was started when the local media refused to publish complaints of locals about the abuse of police power. Our ongoing commitment to publishing different, sometimes strong opinions, many that we don’t agree with, is why you’ll find the conflicting and contradictory opinions of our readers here. They aren’t our own opinions.
We can’t publish everything we receive, some submissions are not based in fact at all, some are defamatory or too offensive or just too crazy. But while some readers don’t think opinions they disagree with should be given any space in The Echo, we don’t. We publish opinions we disagree with, and we hope everyone will read them and consider their worth, because we believe that this is an essential part of a healthy democracy – to scrutinise ideas even if we choose to discard them.
What’s fair in war?
I agree entirely with the proposition that military people or militias should not hide behind civilians during a conflict. For one thing it might encourage the one side to blame civilian deaths on the cowardice of their opponents.
I note that in the case of Gaza it is a well-known fact that the enclave is covered with 18-hole golf courses, some of them not even owned by Donald Trump. Accordingly doesn’t it seem fair that Hamas operatives should locate themselves on the courses, perhaps with bullseyes painted around them, on signs saying (in Arabic of course) ‘here we are, come and get us’?
Now fair’s fair of course, and I think that such a move would have to be accompanied by Israelis climbing out of their 50-tonne steel tanks and doing their bit face to face, like real warriors. Also they’d have to either abandon their helmets, radios, and bullet-proof vests or provide the same to Hamas. Likewise their jet bombers would need to be left at home; I mean who ever heard of an Israeli jet being downed? It’s all a bit one-sided, isn’t it, especially with Biden and Blinken so committed to the continuing humiliation of Palestinians.
And that’s a huge problem for the rest of us facing the might of China, should we get too close to our best patrons, who might at any time do something really stupid, greedy or meanspirited – as they have throughout their history.
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. 
