A Chara, - Could anything possibly illustrate the chaotic disaster that is American foreign policy better than Condoleezza Rice's offer of funding to Lebanon to rebuild that shattered country, while the destruction continues to be wreaked courtesy of US financial aid for the Israeli war machine, and US political support for the campaign?
Every additional day that Israel blows up innocent civilians in Lebanon and Gaza, obliterating any distinction between itself as a supposedly democratic state and terrorist organisations such as Hizbullah, thousands more Arabs are radicalised, becoming violently anti-Israel and anti-American.
Does anyone seriously believe any more that the election of George Bush has made the world a safer place? - Is mise,
DAVID CARROLL, Castle Gate, Dublin 2.
Madam, - As an Israeli citizen living in Ireland, I deplore the IDF destruction of civilian life and infrastructure as I condemn the unprovoked Hizbullah rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. But I feel compelled to respond to the increasingly repetitive "What if the British had bombed us?" scenarios in your Letters page, the latest from Senator David Norris: "If such actions are justified, so would have been the flattening of Dublin, Dundalk and Drogheda by the British air force in response to the London, Brighton and Birmingham bombings by the Provos".
Hizbullah questions not just the right of the Israeli state to exist but fundamentally shares the political objective of its military sponsor Iran that the Jewish state should, in the words of its President Mahmoud Ahmad-inejad last October, be "wiped off the face of the earth". Hizbullah is closely allied to militant jihadists who believe that all Israeli citizens worldwide (presumably Jewish) are legitimate targets for murder in this goal.
The IRA was never so foolish, arrogant or genocidal in its intentions to question the right of existence of either the UK or indeed its citizens themselves.
The Irish-British, Hizbullah-Israeli comparisons are spurious and faintly ludicrous. A little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing; and to crudely try to extrapolate detailed local knowledge of British-Irish history to every political scenario being played out in the Middle East is both intellectually crass and embarrassingly parochial. - Yours, etc,
MOTTI RUIMY, Benburb Street, Dublin 7.
Madam, - Every day for the past week or more, innocent Israeli and Lebanese people have been killed intentionally. Our Government thankfully got all Irish citizens out of the war zone to safety. But millions of men, women and children have been left behind to bear the agony of waiting for a bomb that might kill or maim them.
The ones that have most chance of bringing an end to the carnage, the US government, have speeded up the delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel - bombs that will be used to kill more Lebanese civilians. They have stated publicly many times that it is too early to try to broker a ceasefire - which means they are satisfied to see more civilian lives being destroyed. That means they will get more orders for bombs, and their own citizens can assist in the genocide by manufacturing the bombs.
If the US or the Israeli air force asked our Government to allow them to use Shannon Airport for the transportation of these bombs, would it say no? I would sincerely hope so, but I cannot be sure of it, given our shameful support of the US war machine to date.
It is time our leaders took a stand to stop the killing in Israel and Lebanon. The Irish Government claims to have a healthy relationship with the Americans. It should use it. It should tell them that we do not support their unwillingness to bring about peace. And then our Minister for Foreign Affairs could start using his diplomatic skills and resources to bring about a change of attitude.
As for Hizbullah, our Army has had years of experience dealing with them on the ground. There are possibilities which can be explored to get them to stop their destructive and shameful attacks on Israel.
The world needs neutral, honest brokers at this time. Ireland could and should be one. But right now we are supporting a senseless, destructive war that contravenes international treaties, human rights norms and moral imperatives.
I urge our Minister for Foreign Affairs to do all in his power to get all sides in the latest Middle East crisis to stop attacks that are likely to lead to loss of civilian life. I also urge him to ensure that the Irish people are not providing direct or indirect support to the Israeli air force or army (including the production and transportation of bombs). And I ask him to do everything in his power to bring about an immediate ceasefire.
We cannot continue to support the suffering we see on our newspapers through our inaction. Ethically, morally - even financially - it cannot be justified. - Yours, etc,
JOHN LANNON, Raheen, Ballyneety, Co Limerick.
Madam, - That was an awful letter on Monday from Senator David Norris (a supposedly erstwhile good friend), in which he joined the band of critics of Israel without any attempt to see its side of the picture (July 24th). Fortunately, there was a very good letter from Rob Weatherill in which he performed that task.
If the people of Israel are not allowed to fight the forces of their enemies, aimed at destroying them, are they to go quietly to the death chambers as once happened in Europe? I think not. David Norris "hammers" Israel for daring to fight against Hizbullah and makes the most sickening and shameful suggestion that Lebanese villagers are being urged by Israel to flee from their homes to escape the fighting and are then deliberately bombed from the air.
He also refers to the Hizbullah firing of rockets at Israel's cities and innocent civilians as "antics", as if this were a bit of fooling around by children which should be ignored.
His apparent belief, shared with the British foreign ministry's representative and others, is that Hizbullah forces are all gathered in the open in one place so that Israel has no need to embroil civilians in its actions. I hate to see innocents being killed or wounded in any fighting but does Senator Norris not realise that Hizbullah fighters are designedly embedded in places where they are surrounded by Lebanese civilians whose lot is indeed a harsh one? - Yours, etc,
MAURICE ABRAHAMSON, Tara Cove, Ballymoney, Co Wexford.
Madam, - Whereas Senator Norris is free to defend himself as he chooses with regard to the current conflict in the Lebanon, there is no one who could describe the attacks on Israel and the killing of civilians by Hizbullah as "antics" unless they have a seriously distorted view of the conflict.
Here's one TCD graduate who won't be voting for the good Senator in future. - Yours, etc,
ULTAN Ó BROIN, Dublin 8.
Madam, - These days I remember, with discomfort, travelling around Lebanon in the autumn of 2002. The faith of the people of Southern Lebanon in the Irish really struck us. I remember in particular being given directions by locals to the site of the wedding feast of Cana; they insisted one of their children to travel with us to show the way. In the end the authenticity of the site was open to question, but not the decency and openness of the people.
What has happened to those children? What will happen over the next week as the Israeli ground offensive razes all before it? I noticed one of our Cork politicians condemn the disproportion of the Israeli campaign during the week - it appeared as a small article in a local freesheet. As for the body politic on the whole, the rest is silence. - Yours, etc,
ELIZABETH O'CONNELL, Monkstown, Co Cork.