Israel and the Palestinians

Madam, - I applaud Brian Cowen for condemning the latest attacks on the Palestinian people by Israeli defence forces

Madam, - I applaud Brian Cowen for condemning the latest attacks on the Palestinian people by Israeli defence forces. Now the Irish Government, especially in its position as president of the EU, must call on the US to condemn these attacks.

The United States must be persuaded to use its considerable influence to force the Israeli government to pursue a just and lasting peace. There must be economic and military sanctions against Israel until this path is taken.

There is indeed a war on terror and a war that must be fought. But I think we have lost sight of who the terrorists are. - Yours, etc.,

KATHLEEN FLYNN, Pinebrook Heights, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.

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Madam, - Alan Shatter's letter in your edition of May 21st is timely and accurate.

Although I am deeply disturbed at the current incursion into Gaza, I am struck by how one-sided the condemnation is.

Israel has endured terrible atrocities for years now. If we look at how we Irish are still affected by the Dublin and Monaghan bombings which happened on a single day 30 years ago and imagine such atrocities occurring every week, I think we may get some idea of how Israel feels.

This is not to justify Israel's actions, but to make the point that the criticism is one-sided. It appears to me that most of the Arab nations have stood back and let the Palestine situation fester for years instead of taking effective action to help the Palestinians.

It is rather similar to the situation where the IRA stood back and let the Birmingham Six languish in prison for years to keep anti-British feelings stoked up.

Cue robust response from the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign. - Yours, etc.,

JOHN O'CONNOR, Moira, Co Down.

Madam, - Comparisons are odious to those who would dispute their validity. Let us consider some; My Lai; Makr al-Deeb; Sabra and Shatila; Rafah. These are massacres by any definition, but they differ from other atrocities in that they were carried out by the armed forces of supposedly democratic states: the first two by the United States, the others by Israel.

These champions of peace and democracy, under their current administrations, are not promoting peace or democracy but denying it to all but those who follow their own dogma. The majority of free-thinking Americans and Israelis must be appalled by what their governments are doing in their names. Even some members of their armed forces are disgusted by the treatment of civilians and US-styled illegal combatants.

In all of this the US flouts the Geneva Conventions and ignores the UN and world opinion while Israel flouts the Geneva Conventions and countless UN resolutions. In continuing their actions in Gaza, Israel ignores the condemnation of all UN members except the US, which lacked the moral courage to vote on the issue.

That this should be happening is sickening in the extreme. That the so-called leader of the free world cannot condemn these actions because its own armed forces are committing similar atrocities is deeply worrying. - Yours, etc.,

RORY O'GRADY, Corbawn Lane, Shankill, Dublin 18.

Madam, - Conor O'Cleary's article in your edition of May 19th "Bush affirms backing from Israel as courageous ally", quotes George Bush as stating: "We are both countries founded on certain basic beliefs: that God watches over the affairs of men, and values every human life".

Of course the God of George Bush and Ariel Sharon is very very selective in his value of every life. If you are an unfortunate Palestinian living in a squalid refugee camp in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank your life has very little value or sacredness. You can be killed arbitrarily by land, sea or air by the armed forces of a state that has the temerity to call itself a democracy.

It is apparent that both Bush and Sharon are extremists who in their own fashion are every bit as fanatical as Osama bid Laden. But fanaticism is not the only thing they have in common: they all claim to have God on their side. - Yours, etc.,

SEAN WHELAN, Ormond Keep, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.