Madam, - Recent correspondence and comment celebrating the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel highlight the pre-eminence of mythical narrative over factual analysis.
Once such a narrative takes hold, all actions are contextualised within its framework; whatever happens can be viewed through the prism of a few basic assumptions. There is no need to apply objective or critical criteria to Israel's actions, as there is an assumption that whatever she did was not only justified but must have been the fault of the Palestinians, the Arab countries, or more recently Iran.
Charles Krauthammer (Opinion, May 19th) cites the Biblical myths, justifying the expulsion and dispossession of 750,000 Palestinians on the grounds that the land always belonged to the Jewish people, and it is they, not the Palestinians, who are the indigenous people of that land.
He writes of "redemption" and "miracles", possibly believing that the Jews are the "chosen people" and that Israel is their gift from God (in the words of Gore Vidal, "the great realtor in the sky"). The myth that Palestine was "a land without a people for a people without a land" is mercifully no longer peddled, though it served its purpose in its time.
Israel's supporters incorporate the myth of David and Goliath within the narrative of the state. Israel is always the weaker side, but plucky and brave, hugely outnumbered by bloodthirsty Arabs, hellbent on her destruction. She survives only through the enormous sacrifices of her people, through extraordinary courage and bravery, resulting in a "miraculous" victory against all the odds. Whatever historical research unearths must be interpreted against this myth; the facts must fit the narrative.
The mythmakers hold that Israel has always only ever sought peace and compromise with the Palestinian people and her Arab neighbours. The invasion of Egypt in 1956, the pre-emptive strikes of 1967, the invasions of Lebanon in 1978, 1982 and 2006 were all defensive wars.
Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, her annexation of Jerusalem, the illegal settlements begun in 1967 and adopted as official policy in the early 1970s, the encouragement of religious fundamentalist settlers through Gush Emunim, and the continued expropriation and expansion of settlements are justified in the name of security.
Security is the justification for the building of 700km of a separation/apartheid barrier within Palestinian territory, 600km of settler-only roads, and more than 450 roadblocks within the West Bank. That all this is done on Palestinian land, contrary to international law and the 4th Geneva Convention, is disregarded, or barely commented on. As for the security of the Palestinian people and their protection from the Israeli military occupation, it's not an issue - because the Israeli forces are defensive in nature and never kill indiscriminately.
Once again, creating the myth is more important than the facts. Israel is facing "unremitting rocket fire killing and maiming Israeli civilians", threatening "the very existence of the Jewish state", writes Charles Krauthammer (not a state of all its citizens, note). This is barely credible: the fourth strongest military force in the world, a nuclear power, a major arms exporter, at risk from home-made rockets. Palestinian violence against innocent Israeli civilians is deplorable, but pales when compared with the destruction inflicted by the Israeli forces. Since 2004, Palestinian militants have killed 12 Israeli children; the Israeli armed forces have killed more than 430 Palestinian children.
Since the mid-1970s the international community has recognised the two-state solution along the 1967 green line as an acceptable compromise. Does Dermot Meleady (Letters, May 19th) accept this solution? Let him say explicitly that Israel should withdraw from East Jerusalem, dismantle its settlements, and give up its claim to any of the 22 per cent of historic Palestine that it has occupied since 1967.
Perhaps he would also like to call on Israel to support the conference in Dublin calling for a ban on cluster munitions. - Yours, etc,
TOMAS McBRIDE, Wood Road, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.