Letter Box
Posted: 11/12/2010
Don’t vandalize the messenger
Editor of the Reformer:
This is an open letter to the person who scratched the "Free Palestine" bumper sticker off my car with a key:
Dear Vandal, I will attempt to make this simple, as I can tell you are a simple person. I put this bumper sticker on my car as a quick way to remind Americans that their taxes support the abuse, displacement and death of millions of Palestinians, most of whom want to do nothing more than live their lives, educate their children, work at their jobs, worship at their chuches and mosques, tend to their crops, shop in their stores and visit their friends and family. Unfortunately, the billions of U.S. tax dollars that we send to Israel every year deprive the Palestinians of the ability to do these things freely. This makes the Palestinians sad and sometimes angry. If a Palestinian was caught vandalizing an Israeli automobile, as you did mine, most likely he or she would be brought to jail and held, possibly on far more serious charges or no charges at all, and most likely would serve considerable jail time. S/he might even be tortured, as this often happens to Palestinian men, women and children in Israeli jails. Just imagine if you had to go to jail and even endure torture for your silly act!
By removing the simple "Free Palestine" message from my bumper you did not erase the reality of Israel’s occupation. What you did do is help Americans to forget these ugly facts -- as they often do -- thereby making the situation worse. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to explain this to you and others. While it will be easy for me to replace my $1 bumper sticker, in the long run it will be much more difficult for Americans to reconcile their billions of dollars in support of Israel’s heinous (this means very bad) human rights abuses of the Palestinian people.
Kathryn Casa
New York, Nov. 2
A visitor to Brattleboro
P.S. It’s a good thing you left the other bumper sticker, "AIPAC owns your congressman," since that’s a much more complicated story.
http://www.reformer.com/letters/ci_16591256
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Letter Box
Posted: 11/13/2010
A little clarification
Editor of the Reformer:
I agree that Kathryn Casa’s bumper sticker should not have been vandalized. However, her letter discussing U.S. support of Israel left out some relevant information.
Just this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. has transferred $150 million in new aid to the Palestinian Authority to help close its budget gap. Ms. Clinton said, "This new funding will help the Palestinian Authority pay down its debt, continue to deliver services and security to its people, and keep the progress going. It will support our work together to expand Palestinians’ access to schools, clinics and clean drinking water in both the West Bank and Gaza [Strip]."
These funds bring U.S. direct budget assistance to the Palestinian Authority to $225 million this year. Overall support and investment to the Palestinians is nearly $600 million for the year.
Martin Cohn,
Brattleboro, Nov. 12
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