Israel is holding one million Palestinians responsible for the capture of 19-year-old Corporal Gilad Shalit. The destruction of water lines, power stations and bridges is a damaging overreaction to a single reprehensible act by a few Palestinians that was triggered by other recent reprehensible acts: the deaths of civilians, many of them children, in targeted assassinations by the Israelis.

The people of Gaza might have continued to support Abbas if he had been permitted to help negotiate the recent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but the Israelis claimed there was “no one to negotiate with.” Their reward is Hamas, now the democratically elected choice of the Palestinian people.

There is certainly blame to go around in this conflict, but a prosperous Gaza strip – with an intact infrastructure – would pose less danger to Israel than the chaos and suffering its actions are helping to create. Without pure water, the first to get sick will be infants, small children and the elderly. Hospitals and dialysis centers are already affected. Psychological problems are showing up, particularly in children, and food is spoiling. This is collective punishment of an entire people for a problem they did not create.

A diplomatic solution that allows both sides to save face is the best hope for this volatile situation.

Diana Cundy, Paris