Spreading hatred

Sajid Chowdhury has rightly pointed out the outpouring of blind hatred against Israel and the United States in the letters page of DS. He is absolutely right when he says: "Over the past month, conflicts in the Middle East have revealed a lot of Bangladeshi hatred for Israel and the United States. Just look at the letters page each day. Much of the hatred is obviously blind and appears to have its origin in religious intolerance."

In the current Israel -Hezbullah conflict, both sides must share the blame. Yet, most letters in DS put blame squarely on only Israel. Hezbullah provoked the conflict by kidnapping and killing Israeli soldiers even though Israel vacated Lebanese territories in 2000.

The same hatred propagated against Israel is hampering the resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. With Hamas spreading hatred against the Jews, it is only natural that Israel will refuse to negotiate with them.