(AP) Karin Laub and Tia Goldenberg - In an op-ed piece in Ha'aretz on Wednesday, Israeli journalist Amira Hass wrote that "throwing stones is the birthright and duty" of Palestinians. Her words elicited a flood of angry reactions in Israel on Thursday, including from the mother of a 3-year-old Israeli girl who was critically injured last month in a West Bank road accident triggered by stone-throwing. Another writer noted the case of a 1-year-old boy who, along with his father, was killed under similar circumstances in 2011. Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli peace negotiator and longtime advocate of Palestinian statehood, joined the chorus of critics, a sign of a broad Israeli consensus on the issue: "Stone-throwing is not a 'birthright and duty'...but an act of violence that can lead to death, disability and injury." Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said stone-throwing cannot be considered a legitimate form of protest because "people are being killed, people are being injured."
2013-04-08 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive