Violence Flares in the Middle East

Regarding David Ignatius's July 14 op-ed: The kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by Hamas and Hezbollah, whatever the underlying motivations, was wrong. But for Israel to kill dozens of civilians, including at least 20 children, in Gaza and southern Lebanon as part of retaliatory strikes can hardly masquerade as justice.

Why Hamas and other Palestinian groups haven't embraced nonviolence as a cornerstone for resistance -- given its success in British India, in the United States during the civil rights era and in apartheid South Africa -- is a mystery and a tragedy. Yet Mr. Ignatius is correct: By its heavy-handed response Israel has turned back the clock and ensured that the cycle of violence will expand. Will the bloodletting never stop?

VINAY GIDWANI

Minneapolis

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Whenever violence erupts in the Middle East, it is followed by calls from the United States, European countries, Arab nations and others for "restraint" on the part of Israel in responding to attacks on its cities and citizens ["U.S. Urges Restraint by Israel," news story, July 14]. Most nations urging such restraint also frequently characterize Israel's response as "disproportionate."

The implication is that the attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah are "proportionate." If that is the case, then let us suppose that Israel respond by using precisely the same tactics used against it: sending suicide bombers to blow up innocent civilians in Arab cities; firing inaccurate rockets into nearby -- or distant -- Arab population centers, killing anyone who happens to be in their path; and conducting raids into Arab occupied lands to kill or capture anyone they feel like capturing. Would that be viewed by world leaders as a "proportionate" and acceptable response? I hardly think so.

WARREN H. MILBERG

Annandale