Mairead Maguire

Margot Patterson's article on the wounding of Mairead Maguire includes an unnecessarily biased analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (NCR, May 4). Her analysis presented by quoting Ms. Maguire completely ignores the persistent Palestinian terror attacks on Israeli citizens that are the reason for the various fences, separation barriers and walls. Her analysis ignores the daily 70-lb. rocket attacks into the Israeli town of S'derot that emerge from the recently unoccupied Gaza Strip. I would think that a courageous Nobel Prize-winning crusader for nonviolence would have at least something to say about a group like Hamas that counts the mass murder of civilians as one of its central functions. Your readership would be better served by more balanced articles with less obvious spin.

STEVEN CRADE

Madison Wis.

NCR responds: The article about Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire being injured by Israeli soldiers was a news story, not an analysis. No attempt was made to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general; the story confined itself to reporting on the injuries to Maguire and others who participated in demonstrations against the Israeli wall on April 20 in the West Bank village of Bil'in. As reported in the article, at press time the Israeli Embassy in Washington said it did not have sufficient information to respond to Maguire's demand for an apology. The embassy's response is contained in a subsequent article published May 11.

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