The grim situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza

There were approximately 350,000 of us left, surviving hunger and disease, when the Nazis began liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto. Between July and September 1942, an estimated 265,000 Jews, including most of my family, were rounded up and deported in cattle cars from the Warsaw Ghetto to the gas chambers of the Treblinka death camp. As many as 35,000 more were shot during the roundup. On April 19, 1943, the Nazis returned with tanks and heavy artillery to wipe out the remaining 50,000 survivors and to level every building, until the Warsaw Ghetto was no more. That date is remembered around the world.

Until the dreadful “final solution,” we suffered the crowding, starvation and lack of medical care that the people of Gaza suffer, but not the indiscriminate daily bombings and loss of housing.

The painful commonality between the tragedies of Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto is the utter disregard for human lives in a war setting by the citizens of even the most enlightened countries. Such disregard is so much more painful when it is committed by “our own people,” whether it be American soldiers in Vietnam and Iraq or the Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

Alex Hershaft, Bethesda

David Ignatius’s Dec. 17 Opinion essay, “This is what I saw in the West Bank. Can the U.S. see it too?,” highlighted the heartbreaking status of this most troubled region and made important points, but it also missed some.

First, a large percentage of Israelis disagree with the settlement policies of the extreme right-wing Israeli government. They feel disenfranchised from seeking a moderate future the way many Post readers might feel about extreme policies of a potential second Trump administration. Many have long supported a two-state solution, which has unfortunately been foiled by many forces.

Second, the Palestinians are indeed most regrettably suffering in the West Bank today, but this snapshot of the present needs to be put in the historical context that the Palestinians missed many opportunities to have their own state. Starting with the 1948 war through the Oslo Accords, and undermined by inept and corrupt Palestinian authorities, they have missed multiple chances to accept Israel’s right to exist peacefully and instead helped support the narrative of the extreme right-wing Israelis. With Oslo, many contended that a more adept Palestinian Authority could have had its own state with almost all the West Bank.

Mr. Ignatius could have provided more context to his tragic story.

Michael Lyon, Falls Church

David Ignatius’s essay on conditions in the West Bank was difficult to read. I was left feeling the situation is much more grim than I imagined.

I commend The Post for publishing and Mr. Ignatius for composing the essay.

Andrew Jacknain, Washington