Madam, - Susan Philips (Rite and Reason, May 29th) is indulging in harmful nonsense by using Biblical references in support of the State of Israel. The use and abuse of the mythological traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are a root cause of the continued conflict in that region. Only when the lunacy of religious fervour has been stripped away can there be any hope of a settlement which finally guarantees the Jewish homeland and its people the security they crave.
Old Testament prophecy cannot be the basis of nationhood. The Jews of pre-1948 were not entitled in any way to an internationally recognised homeland in Palestine. It is irrational cant to argue otherwise. It was not even a foregone conclusion that the Jewish State would be established in Israel. An alternative region in Africa was offered in its stead. Western guilt, however, and nascent Cold War politics decreed that Israel be established in the Palestinian homeland.
Despite the extreme violence that has accompanied this decision, Israel stands as a uniquely successful enterprise in nation-building. And it is a testament to the absolute truth that the Jewish people can only ever know relative safety in a Jewish nation. Our Western civilisation cannot yet boast that this is not the case. Continuing to question Israel's right to exist is at best facile. No sane person suggests evicting a million Protestants from Northern Ireland as a method of conflict resolution. No one is suggesting that all Europeans, Africans and Asians leave the Americas to compensate its native inhabitants.
As Israel approaches its 60th anniversary, however, it must face up to its cultural and political responsibilities. It is a political entity that has retained the best of its Western traditions while maintaining a credible military strength. Yes, the cancer of religious certainty afflicts it from within and without. There are the Jewish and Christian extremists who cite a divine right for the Jewish people to rule from the Mediterranean to the Jordan; who would see all the Palestinians uprooted and moved to the Kingdom of Jordan. There are the Islamists who believe in jihad to recover the lost Palestinian lands and there are those using the jihad to prop up their positions of power at the cost of the poverty stricken and naïve.
Israel has neither the will nor the opportunity simply to withdraw to its pre-1967 orders. Its own extremists would rebel and, more importantly, it would suffer almost certain fatal exposure to intensified Islamist-motivated violence. Only a viable, EU- funded, democratic and secular Palestinian state can make the 1967 borders a reality. The only contribution that Israel can make to this proposition is to accept the 1967 borders as an option and agree to a divided Jerusalem.
Once Israel has done this, it has divested itself of its moral duty. It is then up to the EU, the US, Russia and even China to finally drag the Middle East into the 21st century.
Grinding poverty, ignorance and powerlessness masquerading as religion are at the root of the Middle East conflicts. Only secular democracy can eradicate them and finally bring peace to Israel and its neighbours. - Yours, etc,
PAUL BOWLER, Lixnaw, Co Kerry.