Madam, - I don't wish to discuss the merits of boycotting the University of Haifa, but Tom Cooney's letter (May 25th) is too complacent not to be queried.
I rejoice that Israel treats all its citizens equally and allows them access to the courts. Can he claim, however, that it treats the inhabitants of the external territories it controls (Gaza Strip and West Bank) equally with its own citizens, and especially its citizens in the settlements in those territories? Clearly not, if only in respect of property, which has persistently been taken from one group and given to the other. Some restoration may be planned, as in Gaza, but as Mr Cooney admits only four West Bank settlements are to be handed back.
The fence that Israel is building to increase its security swallows up more property of Palestinians, who have no legal redress. The Israeli authorities know - and don't seem to care - that their resentment will inevitably fuel violence. (Palestinians are given to what Mr Cooney calls "barbaric terrorism".) This only increases the insecurity that the fence was built to prevent in the first place. This the downward spiral of violence continues.
Of course Israel has the right to defend its citizens and its borders. Why, however, does it do so with measures that are aggressive and indiscriminate as between innocent and guilty?
If it is at peace with Arab-Israelis, is that not precisely because it has treated them as equals? Would the same principle, patiently applied, not work in regard to the Palestinians? - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DRURY, Avenue Louise, Brussels.