Letter to the Editor (Emailed to the Oregonian and the NY Times 7/3/02):

Thomas Friedman casts blame on Palestinians for initiating an uprising and
chastises them for never articulating why it was necessary (July 2 Op-Ed).
Israel’s actions make the reasons self-evident for anyone paying attention.

Israel bulldozed and took over 56% of the Palestinian
internationally-recognized land for illegal settlements and roads and took
ninety percent of the water. Israeli soldiers blocked Palestinian internal
movement, often abusively, at 200 checkpoints. Israel kept Palestinians
taxes and required businesses to buy Israeli items and not compete.
Israeli soldiers broke up peaceful Palestinian protests, frequently using
lethal means. When Palestinians begged for international observers, Israel
told the willing international community “no”.

Things are worse now and Israel is restricting media access and turning
away foreign-solidarity visitors. If we paid attention, U.S. taxpayers may
wake up and say no to our funding Israel and its military at $10 million a
day.

Jennifer Grosvenor

Status: Submitted to Oregonian and NY Times, July 3rd, 2002.