It is so unnatural, so sickening, to see a people, the people of Israel, who have suffered so much and so terribly in their history, being cruel, ruthless and relentless against a weaker people. What are they trying to prove? They are showing themselves to be bullies. A crack army fighting a defenceless populace.

So Hamas was stupidly firing rockets into some Israeli town, killing no one, but “terrorising” the townspeople. Does that make it right for Israeli retaliation which has left so many hundreds dead? I do not know that elephants stamp on the flies which irritate them, they just flap their ears to scare them off. Of course, elephants do not contest elections.

The Israelis cite Hamas provocation, in firing the rockets, for their barbarous war on civilians. If firing rockets which kill no one is provocation, what is the occupation of Palestinian land?

The world has much to answer for, in allowing these atrocities. I do not know how many remember the 1970s. Not many in the West, except those on the left who had the courage to express their feelings, thought much of the Palestinians’ cause and suffering at the time, until Palestinian fighters started taking matters into their hands and hijacked one passenger aircraft after another.

Then the world started listening and diplomacy raised a bleary eye. Peace efforts got under way. We have made a step since then. Today everyone admits that the Palestinian people are suffering unjustly.

Perhaps the day will come when people will regret all this suffering as much as they regret the Holocaust.

Roger Mifsud

Rabat