Here is a letter published in the Contra Costa Times on August 27, 2002.

Ridiculous Premise

[A Times reader] writes (Readers' Forum, August 15) that

"Palestinian children have died at Israeli hands---but never

intentionally. Never."

Look at facts: September, 2000: We were all sickened to see footage

from a French film crew that showed 12-year-old Palestinian Mohammed

Al-Durra being shot to death by Israeli gunfire, as he and his father

cringed by a bullet-ridden wall.

More facts: July 22, 2002: A one-ton bomb was dropped by a US-made

F-16 fighter jet on the building where 2-month-old Dina Rama Matar

slept. She and eight other Palestinian children died.

USAID (United States Agency for International Development) reports

that 30% of Palestinian children suffer from malnutrition from their

dependence on handouts, largely due to extreme financial difficulties

resulting from Israeli occupying forces blocking their parents from

their places of employment. According to the World Bank, 70% of

Palestinians now live on less than $2 a day.

"Never intentionally"? High-caliber gunfire in a populated civilian

area, a one-ton bomb dropped on an apartment building, individuals

subjected to endless roadblocks and checkpoints?

Does "not intentionally" mean: "Oops, I didn't mean it, sorry" ? Am

I to believe that these incidents are simple accidents? Palestinian

children are "caught in the crossfire", or some other ridiculous excuse?

Between September, 2000 and March, 2002, a total of 42 Israeli

children and 232 Palestinian children died because of the conflict. And

still the suffering goes on and on and on.

Please tell me: Who will save the children?