Israel-Palestine: Kilmer vote supports dream for peace

Re: “Israel-Palestine: Kilmer made poor choice,” (TNT, 1/18).

As a progressive, I was appalled to read the letter regarding U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer’s vote on House Resolution 11. This resolution, which passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan margin of 342-80, reaffirms America’s longstanding goal of reaching a peace between the Israelis and Palestinians through direct negotiations, not harmful and one-sided U.N. resolutions.

I join Kilmer as a strong supporter of a two-state solution. I understand that this dream will only become a reality if the two sides sit down at the negotiating table and make the hard decisions in unison.

Given the decades of enmity and bias that the U.N. has shown toward Israel over the last decade, it cannot be an honest broker in imposing any solution to one of the world’s most complicated issues.

In addition to the issue of internationalizing the conflict, the resolution focused almost exclusively on Israel’s alleged bad behavior, despite the innumerable terrorist attacks from Palestinians against Israelis. These are the reasons why the majority of Democrats supported H.R. 11.

I applaud Kilmer for standing up for Israelis and Palestinians alike, and supporting a resolution that would make future prospects for peace more, not less likely.

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Israel-Palestine: Kilmer vote supports dream for peace."