Madam, - Rory Miller and Alan Shatter cite Amnesty International's reports on human rights violations by Syria and Lebanon in support of their argument (Opinion & Analysis, August 15th). Presumably this indicates that they accept Amnesty as an impartial and accurate human rights commentator.
I would add that the many other examples of human destruction around the world - accurately identified by these two writers - are documented and campaigned on, equally impartially, by Amnesty International. In all cases, without exception, we identify the perpetrators and we unequivocally condemn the human rights violations.
Therefore, I will assume that Amnesty's analysis of the most recent conflict in Lebanon and Israel will be accepted in the same spirit.
Hizbullah deliberately targeted residential areas of northern Israel, resulting in 40 civilians being killed and substantial damage to civilian infrastructure. Direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks are war crimes.
In parallel, over 1,000 Lebanese civilians have been killed by the Israeli Defence Forces. The IDF targeted civilians, failed to respect the principles of proportionality, and ignored the distinction between civilian objects and military objectives, resulting in an extraordinary level of civilian infrastructural damage.
Attacking civilians, civilian objects, and carrying out disproportionate attacks are war crimes.
The Israeli Defence Forces told everyone to leave southern Lebanon, while its bombardment of roads, bridges, telecommunication transmitters, electricity networks, fuel depots, homes, automobiles, even hospitals throughout southern Lebanon forced tens of thousands to leave their homes.
Hundreds of civilians, many of them children, were killed either in their homes or while trying to flee to the larger towns. Thousands of civilians, particularly elderly and disabled people, as well as women and children, were trapped in villages in southern Lebanon with no access to medical services, food, electricity or fuel. Humanitarian agencies, including the Red Cross, were prevented from reaching these people.
Your correspondent Lara Marlowe, writing in the same edition, also cited Amnesty, accurately pointing out that our researchers on the ground in Lebanon have found no evidence of the IDF having destroyed any weapons storage facilities of Hizbullah.
Both Israel and Hizbullah have shown a persistent disregard for the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, and both should be censured by the international community. Everyone should unequivocally condemn the blatant violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by both parties. - Yours, etc,
SEAN LOVE, Executive Director, Amnesty International (Irish Section), Fleet Street, Dublin 2.
Madam, - Congratulations to Lara Marlowe on her honest and perceptive article of August 15th on the war in Lebanon. It is better to risk being branded "anti-Semitic" than to remain silent in the face of the gross injustice perpetrated by Israel on the innocent women and children of Lebanon.
A special commendation also to Frank McDonald for his article of August 12th highlighting the illegal dispossession of the householders and farmers of Palestine to make way for Israeli settlers. We Irish know well the political legacy of dispossession and plantation.
As one who spent years working as an engineer in Lebanon, I am convinced that this is the root cause of the problems in that area.
It is a pity that the pro-Israel apologists don't address this issue more effectively. To do so would in my view go a long way towards developing a "sustainable solution" to the problem. - Yours, etc,
PAT TAAFFE, Rosbercon, New Ross, Co Wexford.