Madam, - Alan Shatter (May 21st) wonders at the absence of peaceful protests by Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The front page of your edition of May 20th carried Nuala Haughey's tragic report on the indiscriminate firing of tank and Apache helicopter missiles by the Israeli army into a peaceful Palestinian protest march, resulting in the deaths of several people, including some children.
I point this out not to criticise Mr Shatter, a man who has always shown the highest respect for human rights for all people in his many contributions as a TD. It was indeed a heartening fact that 100,000 Israelis marched in Tel Aviv last week in opposition to their government's lethal policies in Gaza and the West Bank. The fact that they could do it is praiseworthy, and it was a very brave thing to do. They and the many Israeli groups such as B'tselem need moral support from outside their country.
But I have to also say that his effort to use this act of courage and principle as an argument to silence critics of the Israeli government's policies is not a good argument. I can speak from first-hand experience, having been to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and spoken with many victims or relatives of victims on both sides. Amnesty's many reports on human rights violations by both sides in the conflict are impartial, and the closest you will get to an accepted neutral analysis.
But the killings and mutilations inflicted by the Israeli Defence Forces or Palestinian armed groups are really only the tip of the problem, even if the most brutal manifestation.
The bigger picture is one of the slow suffocation of an entire people and culture, where homes, livelihoods, and schools are wiped out by massive military strength; where every new illegal Israeli settlement pushes back further any possibility of resolution; where a democratically elected government insists on continually flouting international law; where curfews are imposed without warning and you can be trapped for days or weeks, separated from your family.
It is no surprise when Nuala Haughey or Lara Marlowe reports that Palestinian civilians living in places such as Rafah or Jenin refugee camps tell them they may as well die, that their lives are not worth living. And then the tanks and gunships return to hammer home the point. These people are crushed. Is it any wonder that they are not trying to march for peace?
Yes, it is true that the Palestinians have no constructive political leadership and that at least some of the armed groups are closely linked to Mr Arafat's organisation. And it is also true that Israeli Jews (indeed all Jews) have good historical reasons not to trust in anyone, and that anti-Semitism is indeed alive and active. But wiser counsel would show that the policies of the Israeli government are not only illegal, disproportionate, and immoral. They are also very short-term. One shudders to think for Israelis of a scenario in which the US no longer holds its current power as their guarantor.
The EU has been a disappointingly ineffective player in the Middle East, but the Irish Government - in particular the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, and his Department - is to be praised for its ongoing diplomatic commitment and effort to secure a resolution of the conflict. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN LOVE, Executive Director, Amnesty International (Irish Section), Dublin 2.