Janet Simmon: Gaza had been under complete blockade since 2007 before Oct. 6

To The Daily Sun,

In order to understand Sheila Kufert’s letter of July 5, one must understand Oct. 6. Gaza had been under complete blockade since 2007. Water and sewer facilities had been destroyed by Israel. Residents have been restricted from leaving for medical treatment.

In 20017 I hiked the Abraham Path with a Jewish fried from Massachusetts. He was horrified at the destruction of Palestinian lives and property. It is impossible to understand how people who suffered the horrors of the Holocaust can be so destructive of others.

This is what some Jewish Israelis have to say.

Jeff Halper, 15 Dec. 2023: “There is no Israeli-Palestine conflict. From the start, Zionism has been a unilateral national project dedicated to Judaising Palestine. 'Redeeming' the Land of Israel, in Zionist language, by definition requires displacing the country’s Arab population, seizing its land and, through settlement, replacing an Arab Palestine with a Jewish Israel.”

B’Tselem, 11 Nov. 2017: “Of the multitude of unacceptable measures Israel is using, starving the population of Gaza is particularly horrifying. Israel has pursued a policy of total blockade, complete destruction of the possibility of local food production through farming or fishing, and restrictions the delivery of aid. The result of this policy is millions of starving people. The severe hunger that has developed over recent months in the Gaza Strip is not a result of fate, but the product of a deliberate and conscious Israeli policy.”

Janet Simmon

Laconia