Following a series of pro-Israel stories that reek of propaganda, your paper praised Israel's wise water management in the July 23 piece, “Israel trip is already paying off for SAWS.” This is ironic considering the dire situation faced by half country's population.

In their refugee camps thousands of Palestinian families are rationed in their water use. Occasionally their rooftop water tanks are riddled with Israeli bullets. Sometimes water, food, money, mail and supplies are cut off entirely. Roads are often blocked. A trip that should have taken half an hour took half the day because Palestinians' marked vehicles are relegated to inferior back roads and subjected to random searches.

At checkpoints, even elderly women and children must wait in line for hours only to be barked at, frisked, and demeaned by teenage Israeli soldiers armed with machine guns. This is all done in an effort to retaliate, humiliate and ultimately subjugate Israel's second-class citizens.

Consider for a moment this scenario: A group of armed people marches into San Antonio, demanding you leave your home so their families can move in. Your grandmother's house is bulldozed; condos are built in its place so the new ruling class can invite more of their friends to move here.

Meanwhile, your people are forced to live in tents and shacks over in Seguin or Mexico. Would you accept this fate? Or would you fight for your freedom? Would you care if someone called you a terrorist?

To Mayor Julián Castro: I love what you have done for our city. But I urge you to remove the rose-colored glasses given to you by the folks who financed your trip. Remember our ancestors who suffered in the same way the Palestinians are today. They too were forced from their homelands and herded into camps to die. Those who dared to resist were called “savages,” and their extermination was justified in the name of protecting new settlements.

What were other world leaders thinking at a time when our country was establishing itself through the attempted genocide of one race and the enslavement of another? Surely they were in awe of the vast land and resources available to settlers. Some may have marveled at the building of railroads and the founding of an innovative government that would rule a “free” populace. I'll bet some were even impressed by the ingenuity and business acumen of plantation owners.

Israel is the U.S. in its darkest days. Israel is South Africa during apartheid. Yes, it shows evidence of a robust, advanced society, but at what cost? Surely our city has better examples to follow.