I am an Israeli, but I will never deny nor stop protesting the way every single Palestinian’s life has been altered by the conflict with Israel. I am disappointed to find that not everyone is as generous. Some Palestinians and their supporters would insist, as Doshi does, that most Israelis “continue to live uninterrupted lives,” contrasting them with the Palestinians who have all known someone killed in the intifada, who have all been touched by the violence. They are perhaps unaware of the literally dozens of bombs that have been set in marketplaces, on buses at busy junctions or at a bus stop where high school students wait for their ride to school.

Perhaps they do not understand that while the Israeli standard of living is much higher than the Palestinian one, we may be as imprisoned by fear of being killed by a sniper on the road or by a mortar fired into a back yard as a Palestinian is by trenches dug across roads. Perhaps they do not understand that Israelis are as human as Palestinians, and that we all weep when our sons, daughters or ten-month-old infants are caught in the crosshairs of a sniper’s scope and then blown into pieces.

If we are stronger, are we less human? If we respond with force to violent hatred, are we in the wrong? If international law does not protect us, must we be held accountable for not respecting it? The Palestinians and their supporters are rightfully indignant at the arbitrary way in which the Palestinian plight is belittled by the American press. But to respond by calling for a one-sided, simplistic understanding of the facts on the ground is just as irresponsible and just as criminal.

Avi Heilman ’03 is a computer science-Mind, Brain and Behavior concentrator in Dunster House. He is a member of Harvard Students for Israel and the Society of Arab Students, and is a resident of Israel.