Madam, – I welcome Joanna Tuffy TD’s fair comments (Letters, February 4th). What is needed is a period of peace and calm. This is a conflict with two sides and both sides need a voice to lead them towards reconciliation and a sustainable peace process.
I welcome Senator George Mitchell’s appointment. He helped bring peace to this island and I hope he can use his experience to bring peace to Israel and Palestine too. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WILLIAMS,
Wilton,
Cork.
Madam, – Joanna Tuffy TD disagrees with those of us who support the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s call for a boycott of Israeli goods and services. Anyone who read Lara Marlowe’s powerful opinion piece of February 3rd will have no doubt as to why this call was made.
Israel conducted its brutal bombardment of Gaza with apparent disregard for the lives of civilians; one-third of the 1,300 Palestinians killed were children. The Israeli government and military should be condemned for acting in flagrant breach of international law, notably well-established laws on the conduct of war and the treatment of civilians in warfare.
The sad truth is that the Israeli onslaught has significantly set back the cause of peace and reconciliation and has done nothing to weaken or diminish support for Hamas, whose cynical targeting of Israeli citizens must also be condemned. For these reasons, I joined others during the bombardment in calling for an immediate ceasefire, and I join now with others calling for pressure to be put upon Israel to seek a peaceful solution through negotiations with the Palestinians.
I believe that a boycott campaign is one way for us as consumers to impose such pressure. The Irish Government should also keep up the diplomatic and political pressure, particularly at EU level.
At such a bleak time for the Middle East, perhaps the Irish peace process can serve as some sort of useful indicator that even the most intractable conflicts can be resolved peacefully in the end. – Yours, etc,
Senator IVANA BACIK,
Seanad Éireann,
Dublin 2.