IN BETWEEN the daily power outages of 10 to 12 hours in our lifeless city, I took an interest in reading online Jeff Jacoby's Jan. 16 op-ed "Death of the Bush doctrine." There never was a "Bush doctrine" for the Palestinian issue, and there never will be.
Whether President Bush's administration, or any other, cares to believe it, the only doctrine that can mitigate Israel's occupation and provide a path for Palestinians and Israelis to emerge from this bloody conflict is that of international humanitarian law. Ignoring this basic global reference point is costing US taxpayers millions of dollars a day in supporting Israel and providing humanitarian support for us, the people living (or trying to) with the boot of Israeli military occupation on our necks.
I was surprised to read such a seasoned and supposedly well-informed columnist end his piece by asking, "To what fresh hell will Bush's diplomacy lead?" I am currently living in the hell Jacoby speaks of - not the one created only during and after Bush's recent visit to the region, but the one that is characterized by more than 40 nonstop years of Israeli military occupation of the Gaza Strip.
I challenge the United States to wield its influence to get Israel to try the only thing that it has refused to try to date to end the conflict: to immediately end the Israeli occupation without any preconditions and without holding my life and future hostage to some final-status solution yet to be negotiated.
MAHA MEHANNA
Al-Rimal, Gaza City
