Readers Write: Israeli actions were legitimate; Student debt's lasting effects
| Toronto; and La 颁补帽补诲补, Calif.
Israeli actions were legitimate
The article 鈥淎fter three Israeli teens found dead will the revenge cycle be ratcheted up?鈥� misinterpreted the conflict between Israel and the West Bank region (CSMonitor.com, June 30; see page 10 for a related story).听
Far from being 鈥渃ollective punishment,鈥� the actions taken by the Israel Defense Forces in rounding up people suspected of complicity in the kidnapping were entirely legitimate methods of gathering intelligence relating to the location of the three kidnapped teens.听
The violence between the IDF and the West Bank or Gaza is not a 鈥渞evenge cycle,鈥� and the casualty figures cited in the article, reflecting a higher number of both young victims and Palestinian dead, ignores a critical factor: When the Palestinians fire rockets from Gaza, they don鈥檛 target military installations; they target residential areas. In other words, they aim deliberately at civilian targets.听
When the Israelis fire back at Gaza, they deliberately target rocket launchers and Hamas fighters responsible for launching rockets at civilians. This is a purely defensive action that any country would take to defend its civilian population. It has nothing to do with revenge and everything to do with protecting its people. Sadly, there are civilian casualties 鈥� because Hamas hides its operatives and its rocket launchers in populated areas in hopes that the inevitable civilian casualties will garner sympathetic coverage in the world press.听
Marjorie Gann
Toronto听
Student debt鈥檚 lasting effects
Regarding the June 23 article 鈥淪tudent debt鈥檚 long-armed reach鈥�: Evidently the parents of today鈥檚 students who have such large debts were unable or unwilling to save enough money to significantly contribute to their child鈥檚 college expenses. The article indicates that it will take these debt-laden graduates longer to acquire assets to buy a home and save for retirement. But it also means that they will be unable to save for their own children鈥檚 college education.
Muriel Horacek
