I am writing in response to Marcella Rosen's "Ads present often neglected viewpoint" (SN 4/7).

I feel there is no need to be so concerned with the "misinformation" campaign of the anti-Israeli side of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I do not know many people running around spouting the idea that Jews make pastries with Arabs' blood and I surely do not know people who would believe that. In discussing this Palestinian/Israeli issue with people, I have more often come across great denial about the loss of Palestinian life than I have of Israeli lives.

What is really needed to create a dialogue about this issue is, first of all, the ability of people to hear each other out and not label one another from the start as either friend or enemy. We need to be able to discuss and acknowledge each other's pain and suffering. This is what the campustruth.org ads miserably failed to accomplish.

In listening to a middle-aged Jewish man from Ann Arbor discuss his trip to Palestine a couple weeks ago, I was so touched to hear about how welcomed he was among the people of Palestine, how he told them that he was Jewish and he was still welcomed and how he was able to play catch with young children to distract them, if only for a moment, from the constant suffering they live in on a daily basis under the Israeli occupation.

We cannot afford to deny the humanity of Palestinians nor Israelis. This will never accomplish anything. However, we must acknowledge the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is illegal, brutal and oppressive and that hatred brewing in the hearts of young children is a symptom of this oppression and not an excuse to hate or dehumanize them. If we are truly seeking justice, we must open our eyes to the reality of injustice and seek a safe and peaceful state for both Palestine and Israel.

Lori Baralt
sociology graduate student