Alan is from the Washington, D.C. area and his situation has received a lot of coverage in the news. Alan went to Cuba to bring laptop computers and cell phones to the Jewish community on the island. On his last trip, he was taken off a plane and thrown into a Cuban prison cell where he has sat since Dec. 3, 2009. He was not tried until March 2011, was found guilty of acts against the Cuban government and got a 15-year sentence. The State Department is negotiating for Alan’s release but after two years, their efforts have been unsuccessful.

Two things are being done to help my friend: 1. A petition was created on the White House website to try to get some action by the White House to bring Alan home. If you go to wh.gov/DJO, you can view the petition and sign it. The petition needs 25,000 signatures by Jan. 24 to be reviewed by White House officials and receive a response. 2. We were given a link to the Jewish Issues Outreach Team at the White House. Messages sent to whitehouse.gov/webform/contact-american-jewish-issues-outreach-team will go to the appropriate staff so they can learn how many people are concerned about Alan and want him home.

—Lenny Levy,

Gaithersburg, Md.

The Arizona Health Sciences Library at the University of Arizona will host “Deadly Medicine” with support from the UA College of Medicine Humanities Program and is working with the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona to create a variety of educational opportunities.

We anticipate extensive publicity during the fall of 2012 and invite all interested Tucsonans to visit the library to view this provocative and educational exhibit.

—Gary Freiburger, director, Arizona Health Sciences Library

The room was packed with community members, educators and students. There was a need to bring more chairs and people were standing in the back of the room.

Kol HaKavod to Bob and his helpers!

—Edith Shaked, Holocaust instructor at Pima Community College

FID’s goal is very similar to that of the Jewish Community Relations Council, of which I’m a board member. Just as the JCRC works for better understanding and relationships between the Jewish population and the larger community, FID is dedicated to helping people understand Islam and to promoting better relationships within the Tucson community.

I strongly recommend that people get to know FID, which attempts to dispel the stereotypes Muslims are subjected to, just as we Jews fight stereotypes directed at us.

—Ken Miller

Another quintessential Israeli moment: walking with Shlomo Aronson, a visiting professor at the University of Arizona a few years ago, and his wife, Irit Yatsiv, among the protest tents on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv. It was mesmerizing. For me, the issue was not whether I agreed with the reasons for the demonstration, but the fact that it existed. What began as a young woman’s one-tent protest against high rents turned into a happening, with couches and chairs and people listening to speeches as attentively as if they were taking college seminars. Among the causes discussed were human rights, animal rights, vegetarian rights, gay rights and the rights of assorted religious groups. I don’t speak Hebrew, but I absorbed what I could from the sights and sounds with some translations from Shlomo and Irit. Where else in the world would such a spectacle be allowed to stay for one day, let alone for such a long time? Certainly not in Tucson. The Tel Aviv municipality even provided port-a-potties and cleaned up the demonstrators’ garbage.

It had been a long time since we were in Israel and we were happy to see its people — and its democracy — thriving, despite all the challenges the country continues to face. L’chaim!

—Billie Kozolchyk

CUFI is a non-conversionary, non-proselytizing national organization that seeks to be the umbrella for every pro-Israel church, Christian ministry and Christian individual in America, uniting them to speak in one voice in support of Israel. Despite minor controversies, CUFI has done a remarkable job educating Christians and building bridges between the Christian and Jewish communities. Executive Director David Brog, a Conservative Jew, brings the background of a Washington insider and works tirelessly to dispel myth and rumor and to educate the Jewish community about the values shared between Christians and Jews.

I was part of the 500-member student delegation, which received an extra day of advocacy training so we might return to our campuses with the tools to work with Jewish organizations such as Hillel to fight the demonization and delegitimization of Israel and the double standards that have crept onto college campuses.

A conference highlight for me was Brog’s lecture, “Arab-Israeli Peace Process and the Five No’s,” which outlined how, starting with the 1937 Peel Commission and on through the 1948 U.N. Partition Plan, 1967 peace offer, 2001 Camp David/Taba summit, and Ehud Olmert’s 2008 offer, Israel prepared to make difficult concessions, and the Arabs/Palestinians refused to accept peace. Sadly, in addition to refusing peace, each of these refusals resulted in innocent Arabs and Jews dying.

Now the Palestinians are looking to make a unilateral declaration of independence in the United Nations. Instead of the bilateral negotiations that have been agreed upon, the Palestinians seem to be walking away from the table, with everyone guessing the rationale for this maneuver. It is time for Christians and Jews to ask the Palestinians not to turn their back on peace again. When they are ready to come back to the negotiating table, Israel is ready to again offer peace.

—Sarah Johnston

There are many areas of disagreement, even on historical material — were the Palestinians forcibly driven from their homes? (in many cases, yes), or did they leave due to the entreaties of their leaders? (in some cases, also yes) or did they leave out of fear? (also, yes). Is Israel a bastion of freedom and liberty? (for many, yes), or is it a repressive police state? (for some, and for the population of the occupied territories, also yes). The Holocaust is frequently used by people on all sides of the conflict, both for and against Israeli policy and Palestinian policy. History is a tricky concept to use in justifying one’s opinions.

I would like to reply more directly to Adam Bukani as to what will provide security for Israel. He is concerned that returning the West Bank will leave Israel in a smaller, weaker position. The question, though, is what in the long run will make for a more secure and peaceful Middle East? Is it Israel endlessly continuing an illegal occupation of another people, requiring more and more force and loss of morality for the soldiers and the society required to maintain it? Or is it defying the settlers and their supporters in the Knesset, and withdrawing from the West Bank, with mutually agreed border swaps, and an outside force, such as NATO, for security? The Arab League has twice endorsed the diplomatic recognition of Israel by its member nations if Israel leaves the West Bank and facilitates the creation of a Palestinian State. Is peace and acceptance by the entire Arab world worth leaving Israel in a somewhat less defensible position? Why is a country with one of the largest and most modern and accomplished militaries in the world still acting as though it is little David standing up to Goliath, when there is no Goliath? In the last two years 192 Palestinians were killed by Israelis, while 17 Israelis in the West Bank and 3 Israelis in Israel were killed by Palestinians (from B’Tzelem). With almost 10 times as many Palestinians killed, who should be afraid of whom? For 44 years Israel has been following the same failed policies in the West Bank, even as it has made peace with Egypt and Jordan. Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza ended up being no improvement, as Israel has blockaded Gaza, a collective punishment allowing only a meager, miserable existence for its inhabitants, while Hamas cruelly fires rockets at civilians in Israel, making life nerve-wracking for Israelis living in the area. War crimes on both sides do not equal morality or peace. By avoiding negotiation, nothing has been solved. There are no military solutions for the conflict, only through real negotiations and a willingness to try a new direction. Have both sides committed atrocities? Yes. Have both sides done and said hateful and immoral things? Yes. Are there large groups on both sides who hate the other and have no interest in peace? Yes. As I said at the series, both sides have their narratives, and both narratives are correct. We need to understand and accept the other’s narrative thoughtfully, without knee-jerk defensiveness, and without lashing out at the other.

As an American and Israeli citizen, who served in Tzahal (the Israel Defense Forces), and lived in Israel for many years, I will continue to speak out on the conflict, just as I did in Israel. I would like people to at least listen and try to understand that my opinions, and the opinions of others who share my views, are just as valid as the current Israeli government/mainstream Jewish community opinions. B’Shalom.

—Paul Afek

Ever since 1967 and Israel’s acquisition of the West Bank, there has been harsh criticism of Israel for its supposed separation of families and destruction of human, legal and economic rights. There has been little talk, however, relating to Israel’s reasons for obtaining and needing the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip — the motivation to have a just and secure state. Miraculously Israel won the 1967 war and acquired the land from which its Arab neighbors had attacked, in order to protect itself from a future attack. I cannot comprehend why the Palestinians think they have a right to the West Bank when the West Bank was known to be occupied by Jordan (though no one including its Arab neighbors recognized the West Bank, or to be politically correct, Judea and Samaria, as part of Jordan) and Jordan has refused to allow Palestinians to resettle into a state of normalcy.

Retreating back to its indefensible pre-1967 borders would reduce Israel’s width to 9 miles, which would allow for the so-called “ineffectual, often homemade rockets” to reach densely populated cities like Tel Aviv and Netanya. Mr. Gordon points out that Hamas has committed attacks that have yielded only a few casualties in decades. To downplay terror attacks and display a complete disregard for human life is shameful.

Mr. Gordon, I have questions I have not been able to clear from my head. Who started every war Israel has been involved in? Who has broken the ceasefires without warning? The lack of success of Hamas rocket attacks might have to do with the amount Israel has spent to protect civilian lives, whether it be via radar and alarm systems or iron domes. Today Israel has a dilemma on its hands. Fueled by “peace” groups or anti-Israel activists on an international level through the media, countries have grasped the opportunity to vote in September for a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly. The notable anti-Semitic countries, Iran, Venezuela, Bolivia and Hungary will have no problem supporting Palestinian sovereignty, as bringing Israel back to its 1967 border will put Israel one step closer to being wiped off the map.

—Adam Bukani

Before the legal partition of 1948, the small Jewish population was subject to pogroms, murder and atrocities of pure hate from its neighbors.

In World War II, the Arab Grand Mufti of Jerusalem sided with Adolf Hitler and provided a base for his propaganda throughout the Middle East. After the legal (and I stress the word) partition, the exiled Jordanians (there were no Palestinians as such then), gleefully joined the five Arab armies attempting to destroy the new Israel. They were encouraged to leave their homes so that after Israel’s destruction they could seize all of the Jewish-owned small businesses, farms and homes. Instead of trying to build for prosperity, these Jordanians, now called Palestinians, spent the next 50 years with intifadas, murder and hate of every type toward the new state. During this time frame, Israel offered citizenship, admission to universities, medical treatment, etc., to the populace who hated them.

If the Palestinians really want peace, let them forget their ultimate goal of the destruction of Israel.

And last, but not least, the letter entitled “West Bank, Warsaw ghetto alike,” is a slap in the face to every Jew who died in the Holocaust, their survivors and the Jewish population worldwide.

Were the ghetto residents allowed to own comfortable small businesses, drive home at night after closing, have a peaceful meal with their families, not be afraid of death camps and death squads? I think not!

If these writers are indeed looking for human rights ­vio­lations in the Middle East, they are not hard to find — but not in Israel.

—Michael Farr