Embargo led to attacks

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To the editor: At the direction of the Bush administration, our U.N. representative to the Security Council vetoed a proposal that would have called for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. The purpose of this veto was to permit the Israeli government to proceed with its attempt to root out and essentially overthrow the Hamas government in Gaza.

Rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel during the past seven months, but until the Israeli attack 10 days ago, no Israeli citizen had been killed. Firing rockets into another country is certainly an act of aggression.

But what had preceded these attacks was Israel’s decision, strongly backed by the U.S., to seal off the borders and embargo the Palestinians. Food supplies, medical supplies, electricity, oil — the necessities of life — were reduced to a mere trickle.

Hospitals and schools and businesses could not function, and children were diagnosed as suffering from malnutrition. Rescue ships bringing desperately needed supplies were turned back by the Israeli navy; Palestinian fishermen were not permitted to leave the shore; the country was being slowly strangled.

Such tactics constitute an act of aggression; it is beyond shameful that American foreign policy permits such treatment of a democratically elected government. JIM ACKERMAN Bloomington

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"Embargo led to attacks," The Herald-Times, 15 January 2009. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2009-038. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2009-038