Germany’s Nazi party murdered six million Jews during World War II. In 1948 the United Nations gave the Jewish people their ancestral territory in an area called Palestine. Palestine was still a British mandate with separate Jewish and Arab Palestine communities. The Jews and some Arabs worked with the British. But most of the Palestine settlements fought with British, Jews and each other. Nothing was unified.

The UN felt that the Jewish people having their own state would bring stability and peace to the area. But hundreds of thousands have died since Israel’s conception. And the Jewish state continues to prove that violence generally is met by a greater violence.

On another issue; perhaps police could have found a less lethal way to stop Andrew Brown Jr. from trying to run them over with his car, but split-second life or death decisions tend to be extreme.

These situations define the importance of negotiation. If missiles are fired at another nation or if law officers are spooked enough to pull their firearms, a worse retribution should be expected. The officers could have shot out Brown's tires or engine. The Israelis could have found a better method than removing the Palestinians from their homes. 

Steven A. Birt

Groton