A chara - Charles Krauthammer (Opinion, January 9th) refers to the second Palestinian intifada as a "savage terror campaign. . .that killed 1,000 Jews". This is true.
However, he fails to recognise the savage terror campaign carried out by the Israeli government (during the same period) which resulted in more than 2,000 Palestinians deaths, most of them civilians, including hundreds of children. The final straw for the frustated Palestinians which sparked the uprising in the first place was the visit by Ariel Sharon to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. This by a man Palestinians resented for his role in the massacre of 17,000 Palestinians and Lebanese in 1982, the vast majority being civilian.
Mr Krauthammer writes of how "Palestinian terror attacks are down 90 per cent" and how "Israel's economy has revived" since the erection of the wall inside the West bank.
Again, this is true. However, he does not explain the underlying objective of the wall. To protect illegal Israeli settlements in the West bank, the wall follows a zig-zag line breaking up towns and villages, separating families, children from their schools, farmers from their farms, the sick from hospitals, and workers from their workplaces. Sharon knew that eventually a Palestinian state is inevitable. This is an attempt by his government to strangle administratively and economically any future Palestinian state. - Yours, etc,
PAUL SCANLON,
Cremorne,
Knocklyon,
Dublin 16.