Sir, – US president Donald Trump’s intolerable proposal presents a real problem for those who support international law and wish to see a durable political settlement in that region.
The mass population transfer that Mr Trump is suggesting would be illegal under international humanitarian law. In truth, it is impossible to view it as anything other than a scheme for ethnic cleansing – and of an area that was intended to be a significant part of a future Palestinian state. The intention manifestly is to destroy any chance of a “two-state solution”, or indeed of any viable autonomy for Palestinians. The likelihood in such a scenario is that Palestinians would continue to be restricted to ever-decreasing dystopian enclaves in the West Bank under permanent Israeli occupation.
Mr Trump is effectively endorsing the ruthless politics of the far-right in Israel and his Gaza proposal has already been enthusiastically welcomed by leaders of the settler movement, who are also expecting him to back plans to annex large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. During his previous presidential term, Mr Trump formally recognised Israel’s illegal annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights.
With regard to Gaza, of course, it is not the first we have heard of such a bizarre scheme. In March 2024, Mr Trump’s son-in-law and erstwhile adviser Jared Kushner spoke of the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property”. He also suggested that Israel should “move the people out and then clean it up”.
The direction of travel is not good and it is now clear that the Trump administration will be even worse than the Biden administration in its unbending military and political support for Israel. Last week at the UN Security Council, for example, the US endorsed Israel’s callous ban on the badly needed Unrwa aid agency.
Where will all of this leave Ireland’s foreign policy? Ultimately, it seems that the Government here may have to decide whether it wishes to please powerful political elites in the United States or advocate for Palestinian self-determination and, more generally, for the upholding of international humanitarian law. Donald Trump is unlikely to facilitate ambiguity or evasion. – Yours, etc,
FINTAN LANE,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – President Trump’s radical solution for the Gaza strip is quite thought provoking.
For instance, France could take possession of the area of Los Angeles which was recently devastated by fires and is like a demolition site. The area could be restored and made more beautiful than ever before, drawing on the expertise of the architects and builders who restored Notre Dame in such a magnificent manner and within budget. The displaced Angelenos, about 100,000 of them, could be easily absorbed by other states. They could then live more happily than ever before, freed from worries of storms, wild fires, earthquakes.
The possibilities are endless. – Yours, etc,
GEMMA McCROHAN,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – President Trump is obviously not watching the same news reports as the rest of us. When he talks about moving the people out of the Gaza strip, he hasn’t taken into account the Hamas terrorist organisation, which, as recent television reports show, is anything but depleted, in personnel, in munitions, or dedication to its well-documented ideology of wiping out the Jewish state. – Yours, etc,
PETER DECLAN O’HALLORAN,
Belturbet,
Co Cavan.
Defining anti-Semitism
Sir, – Further to “Ireland is signing up to a definition of anti-Semitism that has been used against Irish politicians” (Barry Cannon, Opinion & Analysis, February 5th), perhaps Dr Barry Cannon and the Academics for Palestine could furnish us with examples of other countries whose right to exist and legitimacy as a state is questioned almost daily? Zionism is merely the belief that Jews should have a homeland of their own and that homeland is the state of Israel. That this same state, the world’s only Jewish state, an area smaller than Munster, is the one state that has to justify its existence, people, rightly, get suspicious of the motivations behind the constant campaign of delegitimisation. Germany and its past make Germans a bit more clear eyed on anti-Semitism than most, which why the resolutions to which Dr Cannon refers seeks to deny public funding to “organisations or projects that spread anti-Semitism, question Israel’s right to exist, call for a boycott of Israel or actively support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement receive financial support”. No one is stopped from being an anti-Zionist in Germany, it’s just the German taxpayer won’t be funding such intellectual chicanery. – Yours, etc,
PAUL WILLIAMS,
Kilkee,
Co Clare.
The Occupied Territories Bill
Sir, – Fending off Opposition demands for the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill in Wednesday evening’s motion debate, Tánaiste Simon Harris was indignant that Dáil Éireann “must be one of the only chambers in the world where the opposition would assert that the Government of Ireland has not been on the side of the people of Palestine, human rights and international law” (Politics, February 5th).
The Tánaiste seems to believe that an A-game in earnest soundbites should absolve the current and former governments of their refusal to take even one concrete action to end Ireland’s complicity in Israeli war crimes.
Throughout 15 months of unprecedented slaughter, the previous government stonewalled the Occupied Territories Bill, dangling it briefly before voters in a pre-election promise. They dodged the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill by having the National Treasury Management Agency divest from UN-blacklisted companies. They dismissed the Arms Embargo Bill with specious arguments, even as media outlets reported Israeli munitions flights passing through Irish airspace.
Worst of all, the government allowed Ireland’s Central Bank to regulate the sale of “Israel bonds”, advertised by Israeli policymakers as funding the “war”, throughout EU markets. This is an atrocious and ongoing breach of Ireland’s obligations as a signatory to the Genocide Convention.
Nobody who has been paying attention will believe the Taoiseach’s claims of “sustained, principled action by the Irish Government on this issue”. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN Ó ÉIGEARTAIGH,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – The Occupied Territories Bill would prohibit trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights (there are none in Gaza). The reality is that Ireland barely does any trade with Israeli settlements, making the Occupied Territories Bill as useful as an umbrella in a hurricane.
I can’t think of a more pointless policy than the Occupied Territories Bill. It is the worst form of populist, virtue-signalling nonsense that will neither punish a single Israeli settler, nor benefit a single Palestinian refugee, but makes a certain cohort of Irish society feel good about themselves at doing absolutely nothing. – Yours, etc,
JASON FITZHARRIS,
Swords,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Can we be assured that the Occupied Territories Bill is drafted so generally that it can be applied also to Turkish-occupied North Cyprus, Chinese-occupied Tibet and the Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara?
Will people be campaigning about North Cyprus, Tibet and the Western Sahara with at least half the gusto they obsess about Israel? – Yours, etc,
FRANK ADAM,
Prestwich,
UK.
Apps, innovation, and exclusion
Sir, – I recently visited a well-known department store café, where an elderly woman in front of me presented her paper loyalty card to collect stamps for a free drink. The barista informed her the store had transitioned to an app-based system and no longer accepted physical cards, she would instead have to download the app on her smartphone.
While technology creates many opportunities and benefits, its rapid integration into everyday services is leaving many adults, particularly the elderly and isolated. A study published in an academic journal found that digital exclusion is common among older adults, leaving them both socially and digitally cut-off.
In this case, the lovely sales assistant gave the woman a free coffee anyway with a smile but what about the next time? As technology advances, it should complement, not replace, traditional methods. Progress must be inclusive, ensuring no one is left behind. – Yours, etc,
FIONA DALY,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Men, women and sport
Sir, – I am surprised at the misleading headline regarding President Trump’s executive order protecting female sport (“Trump signs order intended to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports”, World, February 5th). The executive order bans male athletes from female sport. Trans-identifying female athletes can still participate in female competitions. Because in sport, bodies compete, not identities. Female sport category exists to ensure fairness and safety for female athletes. The executive order has simply re-enforced Title IX – US civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in federally funded educational institutions.
The executive order does not refer to “gender assigned at birth”. The executive order exclusively refers to athletes’ sex. Nobody assigns any gender (a person’s idea about themselves). However, a person’s sex is observed (sometimes in utero) and recorded.
Such misleading reporting is unacceptable. Whether you support the US president or not, you should at least correctly report on his actions. – Yours, etc,
ELENA BROOKS,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.
Electricity network
Sir,– In light of the increasing frequency and ferocity of storms in Ireland, how can we build resilience within the electricity network?
There must be some debate about the cost-benefit of underground electricity cables, particularly in exposed regions of the country.
In the Netherlands, all low- and medium-voltage electrical power is supplied underground. In Germany, 73 per cent of the medium voltage cables are underground and 87 per cent of low-voltage cables are underground. The high percentage of underground cables contributes to the very high grid reliability. – Yours, etc,
CAROL JOHANSSON,
Limerick.
St Patrick’s Day at the White House
Sir, – I suggest that as a mark of solidarity with the Palestinian people, and as a protest against Trump’s appalling vista for the Gaza Strip, the Taoiseach does not travel to the White House on St Patrick’s Day for the usual obsequious and fawning presentation of a bowl of shamrock. – Yours, etc,
GRAHAM WILSON,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – It is both good and necessary that the Government travel to the White House for St Patrick’s Day. And do so happily.
Ireland’s position on many issues where we disagree with the current US administration are well flagged. St Patrick’s Day is not the time and the White House is not the place to air them.
For better or worse, our economy is joined at the hip with that of the US.
We also owe the US a huge debt of gratitude to both Democrats and Republicans for their unwavering support of the peace process.
The support for Ireland has been bipartisan and probably far beyond what we deserve when we consider the many other countries calling for recognition.
Beyond that are the family ties between millions of Irish and Irish Americans.
We should not trip over our sense of moral superiority or build too high a pulpit of moral outrage we neither deserve nor can afford. – Yours, etc,
PADRAIC MURRAY,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
Doing the spadework
Sir, – Frank McNally’s article on the McMahon spade brings to mind the possibility that he might have also mentioned the Lurgan spade, although not as a gardening tool (An Irishman’s Diary, February 6th). In certain regions, referring to someone as having “a face like a Lurgan spade” implied a stern expression, as welcoming as a dreary November downpour. – Yours, etc,
ENDA CULLEN,
Armagh.
Signed, sealed and delivered
Sir, – Now that we will have to pay €1.65 for a stamp, it is getting close to the time when we can use our free travel pass to hand-deliver the very few letters that I now post each year? – Yours, etc,
JOHN ROGERS,
Rathowen,
Co Westmeath.
