Your editorial last week about the Middle East unfairly criticized Israel. The rioters in Gaza and the West Bank admit they want to drive Israel into the Mediterranean Sea, and are not out demanding equality or peace. The refugee camps in Gaza were built by the Egyptians when Egypt controlled Gaza. They are still maintained—by Israel—because no Arab nation will absorb their “brother Palestinians” in Gaza.

The Northern Star did not report that Palestinians have a better standard of living than they would have in any Arab country. We don‘t see stories about the decent housing that Israel, working with various international organizations, built for thousands of Gazans. You also haven’t mentioned that under Israel, life expectancy for Gazans has increased, that the infant mortality rate has dropped from 150 per 1,000 births in 1967, to 33 per 7,000 in 1986. Israel granted Arab women the right to vote before any Arab nation. I don‘t question The Northern Star’s right to tell Israel that there has to be a better way – but you haven’t revealed that way, and you should look at all the facts first.

I have one final question for The Northern Star. Why do you criticize Israel for killing 50 people during two months of riots but are silent when Saudi Arabia kills 400 Iranians in one day of rioting, or when on Thursday, Feb. 11, Bangledesh, according to the government’s own religious affairs minister, killed 100 people and injured 8,000?

Philip C. Horn

college of law