I commend Michael Richmond?s illuminating article (?Antisemitism in the guise of anti-Israeli propaganda,? Mar. 24.) There have been far too many biased one-sided articles about the cause of Rachel Corrie?s death in the national media. Whether Corrie was naﶥ or not, she had no business putting herself in harm?s way in a war zone. In doing so, she committed suicide. Her tragic death was fully investigated and determined to be accidental. The alleged assertion by some people that an Israeli soldier driving a Caterpillar bulldozer deliberately ran over and killed her is false. By aligning herself to only one side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Corrie was a political and not a human rights activist.

She acted as a facilitator for Palestinian terrorists building tunnels in the Gaza Strip, to smuggle arms to be used to harm and kill Israelis. Corrie and her supporters showed no apparent sympathy towards Israeli suffering.

In fact, they supported violence against Israel and denied the right of Jews to a state in the region. Palestinians would have ended the occupation a long time ago, had they not rejected outright Israel?s generous offer of a state of their own.

The Israeli Defense Forces have a duty to protect its citizens from Palestinian terrorists seeking to target and murder innocent people with suicide bombers and rocket attacks. It is appalling to read that the Palestinian Solidarity Committee, a Palestinian propaganda organization and others are beating a dead horse and exploiting this tragedy for political purposes. Her story has already been told. It is time to move on and make a two-state solution of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace a reality.

Josh Basson, Seattle