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Gaza’s misery is self-inflicted

Sara Roy’s Nov. 23 op-ed “Where’s our humanity for Gaza?” is written from a one-sided perspective that ignores reality.

Palestinians were firing hundreds of rockets into Israel, finally precipitating eight days of Israeli retaliation; there were 140 Palestinian fatalities, an unfortunate but extraordinarily low number for such a conflict, reported in often-graphic detail by journalists and nongovernmental organizations alike.

By contrast, there have been more than 35,000 deaths in Syria's civil war, to which many of the same self-proclaimed humanitarians pay little heed.

During the fighting, Israel continued to supply electricity, food, water, and other assistance to Gaza's civilians in order to minimize their distress. Contrary to the malicious accusations of Israel's critics, including the bogus profanity of "genocide" that some raise, the only disproportionate response in the recent fighting was that of those who consider any Israeli military success inherently unfair.

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Gaza is not "occupied" by anyone other than the Gazans themselves. Their misery is self-inflicted.

As for the blockade, what sane country would open its borders unconditionally to a neighboring people who have proven in word and deed that they mean to destroy it?

Cheryl Mavrikos
Brookline