The dirty work

The fact is that Israel continues to do the dirty work for the rest of the free world. Obliteration of these terrorist organizations is the prayer of all decent, peace-loving people as we watch Israel get the job done (at great personal sacrifice to the country).

The rhetoric coming from Lebanon, Syria and Iran is repulsive, as is a lot of the biased media. Israel asks for the return of three soldiers and an opportunity to live within safe, secure borders -- is this so unreasonable? Instead it gets sneaky rockets, threats and demands from the perpetrators who are hiding behind their own innocent civilians to create more havoc and destruction. This is just unacceptable if one has a degree of intelligence.

All of our prayers (Jewish and non-Jewish) should be with this tiny country to help rid the world of this festering disease called terrorism.

Let's give Israel our gratitude, support and assistance for being there for us and performing a dirty job to make this a safer world.

ARTHUR SPIEGEL
Squirrel Hill

Outcry watch

If a Hezbollah rocket would kill 35 Israeli children, would we be seeing the world outcry that we are seeing now?

Somehow, I think not. Is this because Israeli blood is cheaper than Arab blood?

JOSEPH EISEN
Squirrel Hill

So little progress

Last year I had a chance to spend some time at the University of Pittsburgh library reviewing the microfilmed copies of the Pitt News during my four years at Pitt (1974 to 1978). I was quite surprised at the number of articles on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict appearing in my college newspaper 30 years ago. In fact, the articles, with the exception of specific individuals named, could just as well have been written today.

In the following years, there were indeed several great milestones achieved in the Middle East, among them the Israel-Egypt peace treaty signed in March 1979 and the Israel-Jordan peace treaty signed in 1994.

However, it is startling how little progress has been made on the core issue of the Israeli-Palestinian territorial dispute. This unresolved issue seems to be at the core of much of the continued Arab and Israeli disputes. Why in nearly 60 years this dispute over land has not been resolved is hard to understand. Until the issues of the so-called "occupied territories" are resolved, it seems unlikely that any true peace can be achieved in the Middle East.

WILLIAM GLIKES
Pine