I take on a recent letter writer’s challenge (“Wishful thinking on Gaza conflict,” Nov. 8) to find any Palestinian group willing to negotiate for peace, while also finding 100 Palestinian people willing to live side-by-side with Israel.

A longtime member of the peace group Fellowship of Reconciliation, I have often read about Palestinian peace groups. If one Googled those terms one would find many. In some of these groups both Israelis and Palestinians are members. If the writer were to Google the terms “refuseniks” and “Israeli” he would find the following: “Citizens of Israel have refused to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or have disobeyed orders on the grounds of pacifism, antimilitarism, religious philosophy, or political disagreement with Israeli policy such as its occupation of the West Bank.” Not even all Israelis support the Israeli violence.

In addition, who can really believe that there are not hundreds of ordinary suffering Palestinian men, women and children who would agree to almost anything to end the nightmare they are enduring? Hamas was elected in 2006 and started killing the Fateh opposition soon after, so clearly not everyone supports them or voted for them.

And though the writer believes Jews are not “readily accepted” here in the U.S., Jews are clearly much safer here than in Israel, due to Israeli’s violent, oppressive, unjust policies and the resulting equally violent response.

Kimberly Crook
South Portland