Israeli-Palestinian conflict a modern one
In a recent letter to the editor, it is implied that the history of this conflict stems back to ancient, biblical times. However, this conflict is a modern one that is about territory, power and control.
Certainly, religious identities are a factor, and Zionism uses the Jewish Bible to legitimize Israel’s territorial control today, but this is not a fight about religion or Jesus; it is about the domination of land and people.
What is known as Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories today was under the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918. During that 402-year period, it was inhabited almost exclusively by Arab Palestinians. It was after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, when competing claims over this area evolved, that the modern conflict arose.
The letter also ponders why Jordan is not the home for Palestinians. This is a simple answer: No one wants to be forcibly removed from their homes and the land in which their families have lived for countless generations so that another people can take control.
Jordan has a population that is just over half Palestinian (not 80% as the letter cites). These Palestinians are, in general, incredibly grateful that Jordan has given them a place to remake their lives. But they live in Jordan because they were forcibly displaced from Palestine (its official name was the Mandate of Palestine from 1923-48) after Israel was created in 1948. Israel’s subsequent military aggression displaced 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 and another 250,000 in 1967, many of whom went to Jordan.
Palestinians in Jordan are refugees. Refugees whom I have researched for over 10 years, and who, for the most part, still long to return to what they know as their home in Palestine.
Karen Culcasi
Morgantown
Don’t cut taxes; invest in our kids instead
I would like a little extra walking around money in my pocket as much as the next guy. Gov. Justice wants to cut the state income tax rate by 5%, at a price of around $100 million. The governor said that the state has accumulated a large budget surplus because it has reduced the cost of government by operating under flat budgets. But at what cost?
Child Protective Services received around 40,000 referrals last year. The June 30 West Virginia Child Welfare Dashboard suggests that CPS has 378 filled CPS positions and 91 vacancies. So, if every position were filled, each CPS worker would have a caseload of 85 children. That is a number designed for failure — the failure of providing quality services to our most vulnerable children. So, the West Virginia Legislature should take, say, $5 million to hire an extra 100 CPS workers in order to bring the caseload of each CPS worker down to a manageable level.
Everyone agrees that the West Virginia public schools are functioning with 1,000 or so noncertified teachers. But no extraordinary steps are being taken to convince existing teachers to become certified or in recruiting certified teachers into the state. Both WVU Hospitals and Mon Health are taking extraordinary steps to train and recruit nurses. The State Board of Education should learn from the hospitals and the Legislature should take some of my walking around money and spend it on the recruitment and training of certified teachers.
I suggest that the governor and the Legislature invest my walking around money in the area that they always suggest is the future of our state: our children. This really is a no-brainer, isn’t it.
Dennis Poluga
Morgantown
Spend taxayer money where it really counts
First, I would like to comment on spending more money at Mylan Park. It is all well and good to build a new ice arena, but you would think the county would want the main highway leading to Mylan Park to be in excellent condition instead of broken seams in the concrete and potholes.
Now, I know this is a state highway, but getting the state to do something is like pulling teeth. The state wants tourists and visitors to come to Morgantown for Mountaineer games but expects them to drive their expensive automobiles over roads in such deplorable condition. Chaplin Road would seem to be a top priority to be fixed just because of all the visitors who bring more money into our state, town and county.
Second, to expand the encampment ban is not a solution to the problem. The solution goes further than the city. The city can come up with a local solution to the problem of homelessness, but the bigger problem that goes nationwide falls on the desks of our Congress and the president.
Every person needs to write or call their congressman and senators and insist that they and the president quit sending millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to other countries and instead spend it on fixing the problem of homelessness all over America and on the local level. It is more important to take care of our own people first before we worry about other countries.
Ralph Correll
Morgantown
Abandoned trees along roadside are dangerous
There are several trees that have fallen along the roadside in the area, and I don’t believe that the Division of Highways has attempted to remove them in the past several months.
I assume local residents have cut them up and left them lying in the ditches, and some are protruding into the roadway where they are not always visible after dark or in the fog.
It is extremely dangerous for local residents to attempt to remove the trees without some traffic control assistance. How are the ditches cleaned and the roadsides mowed with trees preventing access? Neither is accomplished successfully.
I cannot fathom how any official from the DOH can be so derelict as to allow such a dangerous situation to exist. Complaints by local citizens to the DOH are often ignored. I am very familiar with the process from Morgantown to Charleston. If someone does respond, they don’t take the complaint seriously. Most of the time we only receive frivolous excuses.
The roads I am referring to are Bakers Ridge Road, West Run Road and, the most obvious, Hartman Run Road at the intersection of Airport Boulevard. A large log is protruding into the roadway where it is so obvious that not to see it is a total disgrace. Apparently, this huge log is invisible to all highway department employees who pass by daily. Willing contractors could eliminate these hazardous situations in a few days. Hire contractors to do the job that the DOH will not do.
I don’t expect streets of gold in Almost Heaven West Virginia — just smooth asphalt with clean ditches and no roadside brush.
Focus your energy on answers, not excuses and not wasting tax dollars. Dereliction and neglect cost lives.
Ron Lemley
Morgantown
