A call for peace
The Interfaith Connection of the Palouse, a coalition of groups from different religions and denominations, deplores both the terrorist- style violence against the Israelis in southern Israel and the massive bombings being carried out against the Gazans. Israel and Palestine are lands central to all Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — faiths that call for peace and espouse the desire to live peacefully.
In this conflict, all sides must find ways forward to acknowledge the others’ right to exist peacefully, without the threat of violence and annihilation.
We call upon persons of good will to write their Congressional teams (both senators and representatives), urging them to work as peacemakers, to support immediate and peaceful efforts to bring about an end to this conflict and to promote the perspective embodied in these words of the late Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “God created us for fellowship. God created us so that we should form the human family, existing together because we were made for one another. We are not made for an exclusive self-sufficiency but for interdependence, and we break the law of our being at our peril.”
Finally, given the humanitarian issues involved in this conflict, we call upon all to donate to the extent that they are able to organizations such as the International Red Cross and UNICEF, which provide care and comfort to all those afflicted by this violence.
Elizabeth Siler
Pullman
Note: Siler is corresponding secretary for Interfaith Connection of the Palouse
Vote out ‘far-right zealots’
Note: The printed version of this letter included a typo in the headline because of an editor's error. It has been corrected.
The article in the Lewiston Tribune (two weeks ago) sickens me. “Federal judge sentences Idaho man who ‘raped’ child and impregnated her twice.” What happened to this child cries out for some serious rethinking of Idaho’s draconian abortion laws. Abortions were legal 30 years ago when the perpetrator started raping her, and he continued to rape her over a period of 10 years when abortions were still legal. If she were found to be pregnant with this monster’s fetus today, would she be able to end that pregnancy if she chose to?
The extremists in the Idaho legislature would probably say “no.” To me, what little the article says sounds like she was forced to give birth and raise two babies when she was just a child herself. I’m not a psychiatrist, but no doubt this young victim had her entire life ruined, and she is far from being the only one this has ever happened to. I can only pray for her.
The Idaho Taliban who pass these unconditionally restrictive abortion laws have a collective heart the size of a pea that rolls around like a pea in a box car. I think the legislators who create laws banning abortions with no allowance for rape or incest should be sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, the same amount of time as the exceedingly vile abuser. The judge in the case said, “I would have a hard time coming up with a case that is more horrific than this one.”
Idaho needs to wake up and vote these far-right zealots out of office. Why are we letting them make decisions about women’s bodies?
R. E. Carpenter
Harvard
Spurred to write
I had no intention of writing a letter this morning, but after reading Terence Day’s Daily News column titled “War is Hell”, I rushed to my keyboard. His assertion that “(Israel’s) attacks on Gaza are fully justified as a defense against future Hamas terrorism,” is not logical or rational based on the experience of war in this region.
Hamas terrorism developed out of repression of Palestinian peoples. Further repression will bring more terrorism. The brutal suppression of this generation will result in scarring so deep that Hamas will have children lining up to self-sacrifice for the cause of liberation. The war will not end now, it will persist.
On the same page in which Day states, “Truly war is hell, but it’s the price we must pay for freedom, or lose it,” a letter from Frank Rodriguez counters with, “All deserve to live in peace and dignity, not in perpetual illegal occupation, fear, insecurity and humiliation.”
The contrast could not be more explicit.
For me, I cannot now or ever condone taking up arms as a solution to problems of territory. Israel deserves to exist, but so does Palestine. The only true solution is for a negotiated splitting of the land that is equitable and done with cool heads and wise hearts. Until that occurs, the devastation brought by Israel, funded by the U.S. war industry, will only further traumatize millions of people on both sides. I join Rodriguez and protesters throughout this country and around the world in calling for, as he says, “The U.S. must demand a ceasefire now to end the senseless bloodletting and join the nations of the world calling for a diplomatic process which leads to peace, justice and freedom for all the people of Palestine and Israel.”
Zena Hartung
Moscow
Veterans Day gratitude
My gratitude to those who have served in the military is combined with the thanks I give this year to one of Moscow’s native sons, Tom Trail. Tom served his country, his state, and his community with honor for most of his long life. A traditional Republican and statesman in the true sense of the word, his life epitomized the word “service.”
Tom passed away a week before election day. In the past, his name was on the ballot for many years as a trusted and stable representative for the people’s concerns. Tom stood up for his constituents. An educated man, he promoted the full funding of education in Idaho. Tom’s worldly agricultural background supported his knowledgeable advocacy for the land, from his dogged efforts to promote industrial hemp in Idaho to his support for public land retention in the Upper Lochsa Land Exchange proposal. Though I knew Tom before the proposal, it was there we became friends as we worked together with many others to protect the Palouse Ranger District lands from real estate exploitation. Even though Tom was working as our representative to the state legislature at the time, he invested all the time he could in this important issue.
It was also at this time I became more aware of the lobbying arm of the American Legislative Exchange Council in our state legislature. Tom vigilantly reminded me to pay attention to this incursion on our law-making bodies. He cared, more than most, about the integrity of our institutions.
I am grateful for Tom’s willingness to serve, his humor, his hard work and friendship.
Here’s to our friend Tom Trail.
Marilyn Beckett
Moscow
