Madam, - The current chaos and conflagration in the Middle East have brought regional tensions to a head, and laid bare the system of international patronage and indulgence that ensures the continuation of violence.
On the one hand, Hizbullah, a sophisticated jihadist militia intent on expunging the "cancerous Zionist presence" from the map, are financed and aided by both Iran and Syria, in an effort to attack and weaken Israeli (and American) influence in the region. Cynically employed, in this instance, to divert international attention from Iran's burgeoning nuclear ambitions, Hizbullah's actions have brought ruin and despair to the people of Lebanon, whose well-being, as they themselves profess, matters little to them.
On the other hand, the Israeli response to provocation has been, to say the least, grossly disproportionate. Clearly, Messrs Olmert and Peretz have decided to seize the opportunity to damage Hizbullah's support infrastructure - that is, the residential neighbourhoods where its members are based - thereby removing the presence of Iran and Syria from the Israeli border. As in 1982, when Ariel Sharon invaded Lebanon to expel the PLO, the Israeli government has extended the war in such a way as to give no doubt about its intentions. Given the green light by a compliant administration in Washington, Israeli bombers can strafe and level stretches of Beirut with as little concern for Lebanese civilians as Hizbullah displays.
The shellings and responses, strikes and counterstrikes therefore have their origins each in some grander plan for the Middle East: Israeli hegemony or Islamic insurgency. Calls for a ceasefire, nobly made by our own Government, will go unheeded until Iran and the United States arrive at some rapprochement for a balance of power in the region. At present, it is Lebanon and her citizens that are paying for international intransigence. One can only hope that negotiations will soon silence the missiles. - Yours, etc,
SEAN COLEMAN, Brian Avenue, Marino, Dublin 3.
Madam, - Senator Brendan Ryan (July 20th) equates the deaths of civilians in Lebanon due to Israeli operations with murders by the IRA. He ignores a crucial difference. The Provisional IRA has never had legitimate authority to wage war. The conflict in Northern Ireland was treated by both the British and Irish governments as criminal activity. All actions by the PIRA were dealt with as matters of criminal law. Therefore all deaths caused by them, whether civilian, soldier or police, were murder.
On the other hand, Israel is a sovereign state. The fundamental obligation to defend the state from foreign attack is the basis for all governments' legitimate authority to wage war in defence of the state. Israel has been in a continuous state of war since 1948 when the Arab states, including Lebanon, declared war. The laws of war recognise the impossibility of totally avoiding of civilian casualties, requiring only that states minimise them. Therefore civilian deaths caused by military operations cannot automatically be considered murder. To determine if civilian deaths might be murder, additional analysis is required.
By July 25th, Israel had dropped several thousand bombs on Lebanon in over 4,500 air sorties, hitting about 2,000 targets. In addition, more than 30,000 artillery shells had been fired into Lebanon. More than 400 had been killed, and up to 2,000 injured. Some bombs caused many casualties, others just one or two. The great majority of bombs and artillery did not cause any deaths.
Two alternative and mutually exclusive possible conclusions follow: (a) Israel is recklessly and indiscriminately bombing and shelling everything in sight and it is pure luck that there haven't been thousands more killed; (b) the Israelis are making genuine efforts to attack Hizbullah targets while trying to avoid civilian casualties, but the Hizbullah practice of using dwellings, schools and mosques to store munitions and launch missiles makes it impossible to totally avoid civilian casualties.
The following facts indicate that conclusion (b) is more accurate. The Israelis are using precision-guided weapons; most bombs do not kill civilians; there are many reports on various TV news stations of precision strikes on Hizbullah targets that have harmed no one; the Israeli have issued warnings to evacuate areas; UN observers confirm that Hizbullah is using dwellings, schools and mosques to store munitions and launch missiles. Another factor to consider is the expertise of Israeli forces. If they want to hit something, they will hit it. If most of their bombs do not kill civilians, it is because they are not murderers and do not want to kill civilians. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL MAC GUINNESS, Dundalk, Co Louth.
Madam, - Motti Ruimy (July 26th) asserts that the comparison between Israel bombing Lebanese towns and the UK bombing Dublin or Dundalk in response to terrorism is invalid, because Hizbullah aims to wipe out the Israeli state. His argument is proficient, but rather misses the point. The fact is that a national government is bombing cities in another jurisdiction in a doomed attempt to defeat hostile terrorists who live among the civilians there.
The detail that Hizbullah may have a slightly different variety of psychopath than those active in the IRA in the 1970s does not give Israel any more of a right to bomb Beirut than the UK would have had to bomb Dublin. - Yours, etc,
SHEILA KILLIAN, Pollagh, Achill Island, Co Mayo.
Madam, - Ultan O'Broin seems to wish to intimidate my by saying: "Here is one TCD graduate who won't be voting for the good Senator in future". Please allow me to be sceptical as to whether he ever did in the past.
In any case the threat of a vote boycott to which I have been subjected in the past by various interest groups has never swayed me nor will it now. I am open to argument but not to blackmail and I will continue to express what I honestly believe whether or not it costs me my seat in Seanad Éireann.
I am more open to those who, like Maurice Abrahamson, although strongly critical of my position, show genuine compassion for the civilian casualties on all sides. - Yours, etc,
Senator DAVID NORRIS, Seanad Éireann, Dublin 2.
Madam, - Sending Condoleezza Rice to negotiate some sort of peace settlement to the situation in Lebanon is akin to sending a representative of a fire brigade to put out a fire, when that brigade was partly responsible in the first place for the fire - by encouraging the arsonists and, indeed, supplying the fuel for the fire. - Yours, etc,
PETER PALLAS, Clarecastle, Ennis, Co Clare.
Madam, - Jim O'Sullivan (July 24th) asks if it is possible to sustain a Jewish state in the middle of a Muslim region? The answer, I believe, is yes, but often at the cost of great suffering for innocent people in the Middle East. A former prime minister of Israel once said there would be peace in the region when Israel's enemies' love for their children became stronger than their desire to exterminate the Jewish people. Surely the time has come for the international community to give military support to the Muslim people who wish to break free of the fundamentalists and live peacefully with the people of Israel. - Yours, etc,
TONY MORIARTY, Shanid Road, Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6W.