Core value

Olmert’s 16 months in prison do not compare to the almost 12 years of suffering by those men, women and children who were expelled from Gush Katif.

Then-cabinet minister Olmert floated the Gaza trial balloon for prime minister Ariel Sharon and was ready to give away more to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, so spare us the tears for Olmert. AVRAHAM FRIEDMAN

Ganei Modi’in

With regard to “Giving medical care to wounded Syrians who arrive in Israel is ‘holiest of holy’” (June 2), the IDF Medical Corps has always provided medical care for all wounded soldiers, even if they are adversaries. This is one of the core values of the IDF and is being implemented today as the military operates a field hospital near the Syrian border and cares for victims of that country’s civil war.

I served as an IDF medic during the 1967 Six Day War in the battle for Jerusalem, and as a battalion physician in the Sinai during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. I took care of many captured Jordanian and Egyptian soldiers. For me, they were human beings in need of medical attention.

Even though I had mixed feelings about treating them, it humanized our adversary to me and I felt an inner satisfaction that I could still honor the sanctity of human life, a value on which I had been raised. I knew that as a Jew and a medical professional, it was my duty to do so.

It is my hope that those wounded enemy soldiers Israel has cared for have served as emissaries for peace and reconciliation since returning to their homes. Hopefully, their testimonies will advance the cause of peace.

ITZHAK BROOK

The writer is a professor of pediatrics at Georgetown University.