Rachel Corrie died March 16, 2003, in Gaza. She was a 23-year-old American, in Israel peacefully protesting Israeli policies against Palestinians. She was purposefully run over by an armored Israeli tank, and the U.S. government did nothing, in spite of dozens of witnesses who saw this outrageous act.

I have a great respect for both the Israeli and the Palestinian civilian populations. However, people forget that many of the Palestinians have been living in refugee camps since the state of Israel was formed after World War II. At that time, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were supposed to be off limits to Israeli settlements.

While there are many tensions brewing in the Middle East, these settlements are a huge part of the outrage on the part of the Palestinians. The Israeli government has refused to move out of these areas. Meanwhile, every U.S. administration has supported Israel, regardless of their disregard for the territorial boundaries set up when Israel was formed.

We need to stop aid to Israel until they agree to abide by the original terms set up when this nation was formed. Otherwise, they are as much terrorists as Hamas.

Harold Franklin Weaver

Hempfield

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