FRED JOHNSTON,
Sir, - I write to applaud the bravery and integrity of Dr Noreen O'Carroll, Israeli Embassy press officer in Dublin, for her letter of July 26th in which she protests against the criminal Israeli action with a one-tonne bomb in which so many children died; and Senator David Norris, for his letter of July 30th, in which he reminds us that the present intifada was provoked by Ariel Sharon strutting arrogantly in the grounds of the Temple Mount. This last point is conveniently ignored by commentators. Mr Sharon does not want any kind of peace with Palestine, and that is clear.
The US might do better to call for his removal rather than that of Mr Arafat.
Perhaps I might be considered certifiable in some quarters for deploring, yet again, the inaction and utter silence of our writers and artists and their organisations in the face of the Israeli rape of Palestine. The least they might do now is to support in print the courage of Dr O'Carroll. A little while ago, I resigned from the executive of the Irish Writers' Union over what I perceived as its political inaction. I do not doubt that Aosdána too will continue to remain mute while Israel perpetrates atrocities against the Palestinians.
What, I ask, are they afraid of? Art and silence have never been comfortable bedfellows. It degrades art to use it as a shield behind which political opinion can hide.
As writers we are increasingly in danger of becoming irrelevant. We say nothing, yet demand that the world listens to us, reads us, buys our books.
I would appeal to the Irish Writers' Union and to Aosdána to issue statements deploring Israel's action in Palestine - or to state why they refuse to do so.
Once again, well done, Dr O'Carroll. - Yours, etc.,
FRED JOHNSTON, Circular Road, Galway.