Reading Hamdan Yousuf's letter, "Penn Staters should look at who the real 'brats' are" (Sept. 9), was a sad reminder of the situation Palestinians are facing in occupied territories, particularly in the city of Hebron. Hebron is the flashpoint of Palestinian and Israelis and the scene of widespread human rights abuses and is the home of the most hardcore and fundamentalist illegal Israeli settlers. More than 700 illegal Israeli settlers, protected by more than 1,000 Israeli soldiers, live amongst a Palestinian population of almost 170,000.

The settlers there continually harass the Palestinian population with immunity from the occupying authorities. Palestinian children making their way to school are among the main targets of the Israeli settlers and numerous international peace activities have been assaulted. Penn Staters should be aware of the human rights crimes being committed by the Israeli government with American tax dollars. I applaud the Penn State Students for Justice in Palestine who try to educate our student body about the conflict.

Sammy Haddad

graduate-engineering