Madam, – The letter of January 22nd from Katrina Goldstone and seven others, Jewish or of Jewish descent, was welcome as it was courageous. The recent Israeli attack on Gaza – they accurately describe as a massacre – cannot be justified by Israel’s alleged “security concerns”.
It has long been particularly difficult for Jewish people or people of Jewish extraction to criticise the state of Israel. The point was made tellingly by the (Jewish) president of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, Michael Ratner, on January 23rd.
In blaming himself and other Jews in the US for having remained silent on Gaza, he remarked: “Some of our hesitation to act results from the condemnation and opprobrium anyone, but especially Jews, encounter with even mild criticisms of Israel”
We have listened for four weeks to the outpouring of that opprobrium and condemnation against Irish citizens. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Many correspondents refer to “expansion” of Israel’s settlements since the Oslo agreements. In fact there has been an expansion in population, but no expansion of the land settled on the West Bank, while the Gaza settlements have been evacuated. Moreover, Israel has indicated willingness, if a proper peace treaty were negotiated, to hand over 93 per cent of the West Bank and provide compensation for the other 7 per cent.
The compensation might take the form of handing over other land populated by Arabs; but a problem has emerged, in that many of the Arabs in these areas have indicated a strong preference to remain Israeli. – Yours, etc,