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Letters to Media Home |
St. Albans Messenger, July 31, 2002:
by Miriam Ward, RSM Imagine: tanks roll in from Canada, F-16s and helicopter gunships roar overhead. "Stay inside your homes or you will be shot," the message given to all Vermonters. Yes, all 613,090 Vermonters under curfew. Curfew lifted a few hours every fourth day to get scarce food and medicine. Thirty days and counting of lockdown in June-July after thirty days in April-May. Imagine: IBM; UVM; IDX; Fletcher Allen, Rutland, Northwestern Hospitals; Costco and Price Chopper; doctors', lawyers' offices; the Mozart Festival; bus companies; gas stations; the Ferry; churches, mosques, on and on. Living stops. Yet this is happening to Palestinians — more than the entire population of Vermont— with little public outrage. 700,000 Palestinians are facing a food and water shortage. Malnutrition is increasing among children under five years. Parents can not get to jobs. Final exams from Spring semester are still on hold for some high school and university students. Summer camps for children, family reunions, help for dialysis patients and diabetics, are written off. Families are trying to survive on less than $2 a day to maintain a semblance of dignity, and preserve their sanity. A few lose it, and suicide bombers are born. How long can this increasingly brutal collective punishment continue? How long will we be silent regarding our government's funding Israel's inhumane treatment of an entire people? "Enough! Not in our name" is the outcry of 500 plus Israeli reserve combat officers, and thousands of Israeli peace activists. It ought to be ours too. Miriam Ward, RSM, Burlington, VT 05401 |
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