Won't improve river
Sometimes good people with good intentions promote and support horrible ideas.
Changing the Buffalo National River's status to a "national park and preserve" is such a bad idea that it should end now. No research is needed to "prove" the change would be beneficial or harmful. The Buffalo already has well over a million visitors a year. Do we really want thousands more on the river, at campsites, on the trails, and narrow roads? Isn't the river already crowded enough during the spring and summer during the peak tourism seasons?
Some Arkansans believe the Buffalo National River is already "being loved to death." Hordes of additional tourists won't improve the environmental quality, natural beauty, and ecological importance of the area.
TERRY HORTON
North Little Rock
Who are terrorists?
The land which would become Israel was for centuries part of the Turkish-ruled Ottoman Empire. After World War I Britain was entrusted with establishing in Palestine "a national home for the Jewish people," so long as doing so did not prejudice the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish communities there. Under the British Mandate (1920–1948), the whole region was known as Palestine.
The rise of Palestinian Arab nationalism coupled with the rapid growth of Palestine's smaller Jewish population saw an escalation in Arab-Jewish violence in Palestine. Britain handed the problem to the United Nations, which in 1947 proposed partitioning Palestine into two states--one Jewish, one Arab--with the Jerusalem-Bethlehem area to become an international city. The plan deprived the Palestinian state of key agricultural lands and seaports, which led the Palestinian Arabs to reject the proposal. The population in Palestine in 1947 was 33.3 percent Jewish and 66.7 percent Arab. Despite the fact that Arabs outnumbered the Jewish by 2 to 1, the Jews were awarded 55.5 percent of the land and the Palestinians 44.5 percent.
Since the 1947 partitioning, Israel has employed various measures to cut off Arab villagers from their land and hand it over to Israeli settlers. This led to Hamas being established in 1987 following an Arab uprising against the Israeli occupation of Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem. Since 1947 the UN has passed hundreds of resolutions condemning the treatment of Arabs by the Israelis, but the U.S. has traditionally vetoed any action against Israel. Our inaction helped create the Hamas terrorist group.
UN data from Jan. 1, 2008, to Oct. 6, 2023, shows 6,542 Arabs, including 1,475 children and 627 women, were killed. During this same period 309 Israelis, including 25 children and six women, were killed. Who are the real terrorists?
KENNETH WEBER
Hot Springs Village
Unsolicited pitches
Since our elected representatives refuse to do anything to actually help American taxpayers (when even the majority supports it) here's a remedy: When an unsolicited caller tries to sell you burial insurance, a Medicare plan, or to help your credit score, introduce them to the ministry of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Apparently, call-room employees don't like unsolicited discussions either.
LISE FRULIO
Bentonville
Kindness of strangers
Last week I attended a conference in Little Rock. Afterwards, when I was walking back to the garage where I left my car, I tripped on uneven pavement and fell flat on my face. I was getting up slowly while fishing in my purse for tissues to keep my split lip from bleeding all over my suit when a concerned police officer took my arm to help me stand and offered to call an ambulance.
Next thing I knew, another man took my other arm and told the officer that he would take care of me. He was an employee of the nearby Marriott Residence Inn and he said his name was Daniel, like in the Bible. He ushered me into the hotel to the closest ladies' room, left for a minute, and returned with a first aid kit and a clean washcloth.
As soon as I was patched up, I said I was good to go, but Daniel insisted on walking me to the garage, helping me find my car, and figuring out how to get through the exit gate. I didn't hesitate to hand this total stranger my car keys and my credit card, which he returned as soon as he was sure that I wasn't too rattled to drive home. He wished me a blessed day and left.
In a world where discrimination and indifference are the norm, the kindness of strangers warms my heart.
GLORIA GORDON
North Little Rock
Gather 'round table
What are you most looking forward to at Thanksgiving? Family, turkey, dressing, football? Tell us if you haven't had a letter printed in the 30 days preceding Nov. 23, and we'll do our best to get it in.
Keep it under 300 words, and send it by email to voices@arkansasonline.com; or through our Voices form at arkansasonline.com/contact/voicesform. The deadline for Thanksgiving letters is 5 p.m. Nov. 21.