I write to thank Mary Ann Mastro for her very thoughtful letter of Jan. 17 (“Consider the city’s residents when granting development waivers). She aptly describes some of the issues the Lebanon Planning Board confronts when deciding the pros and cons of each application.
While written words carry an impact, words spoken among a group of one’s peers can have a much bigger effect. I encourage her and other residents of Lebanon to bring their ideas and opinions to the Planning Board as members. We have several positions open and always welcome newcomers willing to share their time with the nine residents who have volunteered for this important work.
BRUCE GARLAND
Lebanon
The writer is the chair of the Lebanon Planning Board.
As a retired professor with experience on the ground in the Middle East, I was disappointed at the Sunday Valley News op-ed column by Stuart Richards (“Important context that lengthy column omitted,” Jan. 17), which tacked old arguments about Israel onto Jim Kenyon’s columns about Mohsen Mahdawi (“A place to call home,” Dec. 26, and “New land, new purpose,” Dec. 27).
I have worked in the Middle East for a Washington, D.C., think tank, as a consultant for the U.N. in greater Israel, and visited and examined the schools, clinics and offices in some 20 of the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan and Israel. I have also visited the homes of Israelis and Palestinians to discuss these conditions. There is more to pursue on this complex topic. For example:
■ Kenyon focused on “land” both here and in Israel. Why? How has “land” played a role in relations between Palestinians and Israelis from 1948 to today?
■ Why were the U.N. refugee camps built in the first place? How many Palestinians live today in refugee camps inside Greater Israel, and how many Israelis live in refugee camps in the same region?
■ What are the health, educational and economic conditions inside these camps today?
■ How did these conditions play a role in Mahdawi’s decision to leave home and come to the U.S.?
■ What rights and freedoms exist for Israelis that do not exist for Palestinians (and other Arabs) living in Israel as Israeli citizens? Are all Israeli citizens, for example, receiving COVID-19 vaccinations equally?
■ Palestinian attacks on Israel are indeed horrific and a fundamental cause of the continuing anger and disputes in the region. Since 1948, has Israel ever been charged with war crimes against Palestinian men, women and children?
We can all agree that this a difficult and complex issue. There is enough blame here to indict both sides, but blame is a cheap and easy indulgence. A far better analysis might ask: How can we achieve peace between Israeli and Palestinian, and get these two exceptional people to stop fighting (and killing) one another?
JACK SHEPHERD
Norwich
In his Sunday Valley News op-ed column (“Important context that lengthy column omitted,” Jan. 17), Perspectives contributor Stuart Richards complains that Jim Kenyon’s columns about Mohsen Mahdawi (“A place to call home,” Dec. 26, and “New land, new purpose,” Dec. 27) lacked context on the issue of Palestinians vs. Israel, so let me try to add what Richards neglected to include.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin tried to pursue peace with the Palestinians and was assassinated in Tel Aviv by an outraged Israeli on Nov. 4, 1995. His successor, Shimon Peres, continued to try to make peace with PLO leader Yasir Arafat and all three were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon also committed to the goal of peace before he died of a stroke in 2014.
My Israeli colleagues and friends deem the problems of Palestinians worth caring about.
CHRISTOPHER WREN
Thetford
The writer is a retired foreign correspondent for The New York Times who covered Palestinian issues from its Cairo, Beirut and Jerusalem bureaus.
It can be a cruel world. We need to face the fact that actors motivated by considerations of right and justice can cause tragedy. It does not compute to paper over the facts.
The Sunday Valley News Perspectives column by Stuart Richards (“Important context that lengthy column omitted,” Jan. 17) asserts that the Arabs who fled Israel during the 1947-48 war left to escape an Arab invasion. However, another explanation offered for the Arab exodus is compulsion by forces seeking the creation of Israel. An analysis in the journal Middle Eastern Studies of a document produced by Israeli Defense Forces Securities Service in 1948 concluded that, “The events in Palestine in 1948-49, which resulted in the Arab mass exodus, were far more complex and confused than either coherent explanation indicated.”
The column also asserts that Israeli Arabs today enjoy full citizenship. But as I understand it, residents of Israel are identified by religious or tribal affiliation. Under the Population Registry Law, identity cards are issued to all Israeli citizens and, until recently, Israeli-Jews were classified as Israeli citizens with “Jewish nationality” and Israeli-Arabs were classified as Israeli citizens with “Arab nationality.”
Given enduring Palestinian Arab hostility to the loss of their homes, there is deep debate in Israel today, prompted by the Netanyahu coalition, about whether a parliamentary coalition dependent on Arab votes should be recognized as such.
ARTHUR GARDINER
Hanover
I appreciated reading the Sunday Valley News Perspectives piece by Stuart Richards and the columns by Jim Kenyon about Mohsen Mahdawi describing different aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
As a Jewish youth, I grew up both celebrating the existence of the new state of Israel as well as being in constant fear of its annihilation. Although I strongly oppose the Israeli government’s treatment of its Palestinian neighbors, I firmly support Israel’s right to exist, its right to defend itself and the need for a Jewish homeland.
Both writers point at the simple truth that this conflict has existed for more than 100 years and all parties involved share blame and responsibility for the tragedy that still exists today. It behooves me and others to continue to work for peace and justice for all the people affected by this conflict.
GENE KADISH
East Thetford
In response to James Dwinell’s Forum letter (“Vile editorial cartoons reveal a failure to move on,” Jan. 15), I think two of the cartoons provided eminently fair editorial comment.
When on Dec. 20 the Valley News ran Clay Bennett’s cartoon showing a Georgia peach infected with two worms named “Loeffler” and “Perdue,” the two “worms” still were U.S. Senate Republicans running for reelection in a race scheduled to end on Jan. 5. Both senators were parroting Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” lies and casting aspersions on Republican officeholders who stood by the vote count that gave Biden the victory by 12,670 votes. The Georgia votes had been counted three times. In addition, both incumbents had been accused, with some evidence, of using information obtained as “public servants” to profit on the stock market during the pandemic. I would argue the cartoon was timely and anything but vile.
As for Bennett’s cartoon “showing a GOP elephant cut out of a mask labeled ‘Public Health,’ ” it may be contemptible to at least 74 million Americans, but I think more than 81 million Americans would find it an appropriate editorial comment. Nothing has done more to help COVID-19 spread across the nation than the refusal to wear masks. Not only has the GOP made not wearing masks a mark of right-wing political correctness, but the misinformation trumpeted by GOP politicians and their propagandists on right-wing media outlets has done much to confuse the public and make the pandemic more deadly than it might have been. Now 400,000 Americans have died and the toll continues to climb even as we slowly begin to vaccinate citizens. If Trump had spent half as much time trying to minimize the damage done by COVID-19 as he did tweeting false information, stirring up his supporters and golfing, the United States might have done a better job containing the virus.
I look forward to the change in administrations and hope the new president and Congress will begin working together to solve the many problems facing the United States. If that’s the direction we take, I am ready to move on.
STEPHEN CRIMMIN
East Thetford
Usually, it’s presidents who seem to age faster during their time in office. But for the last four years, it’s been the rest of us.
BARRY WENIG
Lebanon