Letters

Israel and Hamas – war in the Middle East

Palestinian self-determination

Sat Dec 30 2023 - 00:10

Sir, – In his letter (December 28th), Oliver Sears makes the extraordinary statement that Zionism “does not exclude Palestinian self-determination”.

Given more than 75 years of oppression, dispossession, forcible transfer, mass imprisonment (often without charge or trial), their fragmentation into disconnected enclaves, the construction of a regime of apartheid, and the more than 700,000 settlers transferred onto occupied Palestinian land, it is clear that the central policy of every Israeli government since 1948 has been to deny Palestinian self-determination.

Or perhaps he means only if that self-determination happens anywhere but Palestine. – Yours, etc,

ÉAMONN MEEHAN,

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Chair,

Sadaka, the Ireland Palestine Alliance,

Blackrock,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – It is estimated that the direct actions of the Israeli Defence Forces have killed over 4,000 Palestinian children in Gaza over the past couple of months, mostly in their homes or on the road, as the flee for shelter.

How many more will it take before Israel feels safe? Is killing children the path to peace and security?

Would this be considered an act of self-defence by any civilised society?

No and again no!

These actions must be condemned by present and future generations, just as we condemn the Holocaust now. – Yours, etc,

TOM BUTTERLY,

Dún Laoghaire,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – Oliver Sears claims that Zionism for many Jews represents a homeland which does not exclude Palestinian self-determination. The practice of Zionism by the State of Israel does the exact opposite. Not just turning a blind eye but encouraging illegal land seizures, imprisonment without trial, not to speak of the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

His assertion that most Palestinians do not wish to return to their homeland is also incorrect. Some 750,000 Palestinians and their descendants have been demanding their right to return to the homeland forcibly taken from them in the 1947/48 Nakba.

His rationale also falls down on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a peaceful movement which calls for the boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Hardly a call for the destruction of that state nor an incitement to hatred.

While Mr Sears makes a valid point of facing up the bigotry of anti-Semitism, surely a balanced view is called for? – Yours, etc,

SINEAD MUNNELLY,

Clongiffin,

Dublin 13.

Sir, – Patrick Smyth’s recent article (“Characterising criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism shuts down debate”, Opinion & Analysis, December 23rd), and the substantive reply to it from Oliver Sears (Letters, December 28th), tempts me to ask Patrick Smyth whether, in the interests of balance, he would care, or dare, to write a similar critique of the policy and actions of Hamas on, before and after their brutish, inhuman attacks of October 7th, egregious crimes as they are against humanity and against human rights as defined in the UN Declaration?

DONAL DENHAM,

(Ambassador of Ireland,

retired, including seven years on the Irish

delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights),

Blackrock,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – I commend Brian Ó Éigeartaigh’s letter (“Ireland, Israel and Eurovision”, Letters, December 28th). It is astonishing that, as he says, “As it stands, Palestinian fatalities in the Israeli state’s indiscriminate military onslaught have already far exceeded Ukrainian fatalities since Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022″ and yet no western state has shouted “stop” to the State of Israel.

As a non-violent solution, suggestions such as boycotting the upcoming Eurovision Contest in Israel and other Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions actions seem not only sensible but if successful, on the lines of the boycott of racist South Africa, might become life saving. – Yours, etc,

TOM O’CONNOR,

Dublin 4.

Sir, – Raymond Deane is correct that the BDS website does not use language explicitly calling for the end of the State of Israel (Letters, December 29th). However, it says the loud part quietly. If you call for a ban on imports, exports, sport, culture and academia, the state ultimately collapses. That is why the Anti-Defamation League, which combats racism, and Deborah Lipstadt, the US state department special envoy on anti-Semitism, state that BDS effectively calls for the elimination of Israel.

Even Norman Finkelstein, one of the most vocal opponents of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians in US academia, has opposed BDS since 2012 for the same reason.

BDS calls for neither a two-state nor single-state solution. While it denies that this does mean it does not recognise the state of Israel, what other conclusion can this position imply?

Cultural boycott, especially, does nothing but inflame racial tensions, promoting division and exclusion. Meanwhile, BDS’s impact on the Israeli economy is close to zero.

Peace will come to Gaza and Israel by the geopolitical manoeuvrings of the US, the EU, China and a collective of key Arab States.

For the sake of the civilians caught up in this appalling war, this needs to happen immediately.

In the meantime, those protesting legitimately have, unfortunately, often succeeded in doing little else but encourage a vertiginous rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. – Yours, etc,

OLIVER SEARS,

Holocaust Awareness Ireland,

Dublin 2.

Sir, – Without wishing to rehearse the arguments about the ethics or efficacy of sanctions, or whether they constitute anti-Semitism, it is clear that the BDS movement is more than about illegal settlements in the West Bank or the blockade of Gaza.

The BDS movement calls for the return of 7.25 million refugees to their homes based on UN Resolution 194, which would effectively displace the majority of the Israeli population. Whether one agrees or disagrees with this, it would inevitably lead to the destruction of Israel.

Let supporters of the BDS movement be in no doubt of what they are calling for. – Yours, etc,

SEAN RYAN,

Castleconnell,

Co Limerick.