The recent speech by President Bush on the Middle East came in for sharp criticism from the Palestinian Delegate-General to Ireland, Mr Ali Halimeh, speaking at the International Humbert Summer School.
"We were hoping President Bush would present something which would reflect the reality in the Middle East," Mr Halimeh said yesterday. "Bush himself said he had a vision for a Palestinian state."
He admitted there were "certain positive elements" in the speech, such as the references to an independent Palestinian state, the pre-1967 borders and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
"We don't want to reject all the speech," Mr Halimeh said, "but we thought it was not fair of Mr Bush, as the leader of the great democracy in the world, to lecture the Palestinians on how they should elect their own leadership and what they should do and should not do."
Mr Bush had spoken a lot about faults on the Palestinian side but little about the ending of Israeli "aggression" against the Palestinian people. The Palestinians did not ask permission from anybody in this world when fighting for independence and choosing their leadership.
It was the Palestinians who had extended the hand of friendship to the Israelis and started the negotiations leading to the Oslo accords. "Many Palestinian representatives were shot and killed in Europe because they were talking to the Israelis."
He continued: "Arafat is the symbol of the Palestinian people's struggle, if you like it or not, Mr Bush." Why did Arafat have to be removed today? "Corruption? There is no corruption in the United States?" he asked.
Meanwhile, the Israeli ambassador to Ireland, Mr Mark Sofer, has rejected claims by Mr Halimeh that Israel prevented a Palestinian minister from coming to Ireland to attend the Humbert School.
Mr Halimeh said the Israeli authorities failed to respond to a number of requests to permit Palestinian ministers to travel to Ireland. He did not have names or dates but knew that two ministers were nominated.
Responding, Mr Sofer said it was "strange" that the names and dates of applications were not known to the Palestinian representation in Ireland. If the Israeli embassy in Dublin had been informed, it would have "left no stone unturned to solve the issue, but we knew nothing about it".
Besides, the ministers could have left through Egypt or Jordan, they did not have to exit via Tel Aviv, he said.
The director of the Humbert School, Mr John Cooney, read a letter from Mr Sofer expressing regret that he could not accept an invitation to speak as his term of office finished today.
Mr Cooney said he welcomed the letter but hoped there would be an Israeli speaker next year.
"I challenge the Israelis that next year they don't continue to play games. This is too serious for playing games," Mr Cooney said. "Come out of hiding and debate."
Mr Sofer told The Irish Times: "It is not true that we don't engage in debate." He had engaged in "countless" debates all over the country, both with Mr Halimeh and his predecessor.
It had been impossible for him to attend this particular event as he was leaving the country today at the end of his posting, the ambassador said.
A second Palestinian speaker, Dr Nazih Eldin, who lives and works in Navan, Co Meath, said the Israeli presence in the Palestinian territories was "the most oppressive and cruel occupation ever in the history of the world".
Every day Palestinians in the West Bank were kept waiting for hours at checkpoints for permission from some 18-year-old soldier to get through. "His instruction is to make your life as miserable as you can imagine."
The Palestinian economy had been completely destroyed in the name of Israel's demand for security.
"Is it possible that 100 per cent of the whole population of Palestine are terrorists?" Why were a school computer and a pharmacy regarded as legitimate security targets? It might not be Auschwitz or Dachau but the Palestinian people were being suffocated, Dr Eldin said.