To the editor,
Today’s paper (Philadelphia Inquirer, June 26, 2006) includes an Associated Press map with the heading “Displaced by Fighting in Lebanon”. The map and accompanying story, however, shows only Lebanese displaced. No mention is made of the Israelis that are also displaced by Hezbollah rocket attacks targeting those living in Israel’s cities and towns.
I understand that the Prime Minister of Israel has stated that 15 percent of Israel’s population sleeps in bomb shelters. That group alone represents on the order of 900,000 people who are, in effect, displaced, and does not count those who have fled Northern Israel.
Israelis are also, as I understand it, receiving no “humanitarian aid” from anyone but their fellow Israelis and individual foreigners who send help.
I know the AP, which relies heavily on local correspondents in dangerous locales, has never had much interest in Israeli suffering. Israel, as it did with the millions of refugees from Europe and the Middle East that it took in over the last several decades, resettles its refugees rather than keeping them in camps for generations to score political points.
Still, I would hope the Inquirer could do better. If you are going to discuss the displaced, shouldn’t they all be counted?
Best regards,
John Cohn, MD