Palestinians' tactics are the source of intifada's victims
The Sun's recent editorial "The victims of the intifada" (Nov. 7) was incredibly deficient in understanding what is taking place within Palestinian ranks. They have begun a systematic and deliberate attempt to scuttle the peace process entirely and return to an endless jihad.
To make the statement, "In Gaza, no Palestinian is safe. The children suffer most" is to suggest the Israeli army has deliberately targeted children for death.
The world knows, and The Sun should too, that the Palestinian strategy has been to place children into the front ranks of the rock throwers so that, should harm come to them, the world will see pictures of children being shot.
When The Sun writes "Israelis and Palestinians have both been harmed but Palestinians much more," it ought to ascribe responsibility for the current sad state of affairs to its proper source.
To suggest that the current crippling of the Palestinian economy has not been the responsibility of the Palestinians themselves is to write a revisionist history.
The rewriting of history has been attempted in many places and by many people. It should never be promulgated under the aegis of a responsible newspaper.
Harvey Meyerhoff
Baltimore
Headlines mourn killer, blame Israel for violence
The Sun's article "Palestinian militant mourned by followers" (Nov. 11) reported interviews with the dead Palestinian's wife and relatives. They said he had never accepted Israel's existence, had hoped to become a martyr and had killed two Israeli soldiers this month.
His wife said he was on his way to attack Israeli soldiers at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem when he was killed by Israelis.
Adjacent was an article with the sub-headline, "Israeli assassination of militiaman appears to escalate fighting."
Is there no end to the bias of The Sun's headline writers?
Laurence M. Katz
Baltimore
Palestinians rightly resist Israel's barbaric behavior
The column "Israel responds with restraint and resolve in crisis" (Nov. 12) did not mention that most fighting is in the occupied territories and that Palestinians are defending themselves against the Israeli's army's barbaric actions.
The seven years since the Oslo accords have seen expansion of illegal settlements, more closings of the territories and construction of a road system permanently dividing Gaza and the West Bank.
Palestinians have had enough. The moral authority that Israel enjoyed is hemorrhaging away as the world sees that the "peace process" is a euphemism for establishing apartheid-like Bantustans.
Civilization dictates standards of behavior, and it is Israel's not meeting these standards that leads to violence, as the Palestinians exercise their right to resist occupation and achieve independence.
Loay AbdelKarim
Baltimore
Most Americans voted for progressive policies
Yes, this was a very close election. But, when you add up the votes cast nationwide for Vice President Al Gore and Ralph Nader and those for Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Pat Buchanan, you find that, by at least 51 percent to 49 percent, Americans voted for the two progressive candidates over the conservative ones.
Thus a slim but solid majority voted for policies at least as progressive as those proposed by Mr. Gore.
Vinny DeMarco
Baltimore
Two-party system denies others proper representation
Ralph Nader's candidacy is a clear illustration of one of the failures of our two-party, winner-take-all system.
In a true democracy, and in a parliamentary system, an idea that attracts 3 percent of the vote should earn 3 percent of representation.
But in the Nov. 7 election, Nader voters not only gained no representation, but may have paradoxically elected the presidential candidate they liked the least.
This is anti-democratic and needs to be changed.
Marc Schabb
Reisterstown
Support for Towson jail was hardly overwhelming
I do not think that Question C (the Towson jail expansion and other projects) was overwhelmingly approved, as The Sun wrote in the editorial "The region in Election 2000" (Nov. 11).
Having more than 106,000 people vote against a bond bill is extraordinary, especially when the issue was hidden in a vaguely worded bill.
Although we tried to spread the word about this unfair and unclear bond bill, we had limited time and funds. Many people were unaware what they were voting for.
Now, I can only hope that a huge prison is not allowed in the middle of Towson.
Peggy Burke
Towson
Growing population isn't the real threat
The premise of the recent letter criticizing population growth is flawed ("If left unchecked, population growth ruins quality of life," letters, Nov. 7).
The writer mentions that it has been 225 years since our Declaration of Independence; yet he leaves out the reason for declaring independence -- to be free.
Who would want to live in an America with the population of India and China combined, the author asks? Conversely, who would want to live in an America with laws (such as China's) that limit one's freedom to procreate?
