Daily Times

Sir: The murder of an Israeli woman and a soldier in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv respectively by enraged individual Palestinians is a case of people hitting their own feet with a hammer (to paraphrase an Urdu saying). The Israeli government has broadcast the incidents far and wide in the media through its excellent international media contacts and has categorised the murders as terrorism, even though in any sane country they would simply be called homicide. An incident involving an alleged Hamas member who drove his car into a crowd of people at a bus stand in Jerusalem is being described as a “vehicular attack” by Israeli authorities. One of the murders was publicly applauded by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has remained an intractable opponent of negotiations with Israel.

These incidents, though exceedingly minor when compared to Israel’s wholesale massacre of Palestinians, nonetheless allow Israel to paint Palestinians as violent and uninterested in peace. Palestinians know that Israel’s media and diplomatic clout are far greater than their own. They must not allow it to turn the narrative in its favour once again and make excuses for war by falsely painting Palestinians as anti-Semitic or uninterested in peace. The George Habash syndrome should not repeat itself.

SYED AHMAD

Karachi