Sir, – Perhaps Mark Weiss sees a "Message of hope from Bethlehem despite lockdown Christmas" (World, December 19th) because he has overlooked the ongoing lockdown caused by the occupation of Palestine by Israel. Bethlehem is squeezed by a concrete wall higher than the Berlin Wall running deep inside the internationally recognised border, by ever-growing Israeli settlements illegal in international law, by restrictions on movement from a cruel and arbitrary permit system, and by other occupation authority- imposed restrictions, such as road blocks and road closures.
One cannot seriously talk about “lockdown” in Bethlehem with mentioning these. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK COSTELLO TD,
(Green Party,
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Dublin South Central),
Leinster House, Dublin 2.