To the editor:

We Americans live side by side with the Jews, Catholics, Baptists, Muslims, Protestants and peoples of other faiths. We have laws that help us to stay separated and protect our beliefs, yet we claim to have the same God. In Israel, Palestinian, Gazans Lebanese, Muslims, Arabs and other groups are forced to live in assigned areas, under similar conditions as caged animals, under the permanent fear of the Israeli military might.

Some have proclaimed such biased opinions recently, that it becomes impossible to know the truth and full account of the conflict. But these are only local and expected opinions.

The military dominance of Israel over the Middle East is sustained and patronized by the United States policy. Israel is the possessor of the most powerful military forces of the region, while the Arabs, Muslims, and Palestine are fractioned enclaves tolerated by its founders and consented by the United Nations.

Israel cannot tolerate the presence of any Arab minority group and has a policy of isolating them into untenable over populated and unsustainable enclaves. The military capability of these isolated groups together or alone is nil by comparison. That is why, to contend against this invincible difference, their citizens offer their lives as martyrs for their cause. Defenseless people and defenseless nations accept self immolation for the protection and survival of their families and their societies, as there is no alternative to the might and power of bully nations such as Israel whose aim is to occupy their lands.

The Israel military leaders use precision bombing and blanket bombardment “to take out” specific targets, such as single leaders, and even United Nations medical teams and personnel, massacring civilian, women and children, without regard for public opinion around the world. Israeli leaders claim that Hamas militants constitute a danger to their settlements by daily bombardment of rockets and to corroborate these damages they claim that they have suffered 14 military dead. Hamas suffered over 1,000 dead, 300 of the children, nearly 5,000 wounded.

The Israeli press, to corroborate the damages caused by the daily rockets have shown a few small cavities in the pavement of empty struts or roads,with no casualties of wounded, civilian or military. The Israeli military planned the invasion and bombardment of Hamas unprotected populations claiming that they must stop the bombardment to protect their homeland. This pretext, the daily rocket bombardment without damages, was the stratagem used to liquidate the small Hamas militants. They used precision bombs, and other intelligence agents inside Hamas territory to pinpoint the location of the opposition leaders and military objectives,which were devastated at the start of the conflict. They continue their murderous invasion, the total destruction of Hamas.

Manuel O. Mercado

Cape Coral