Sir, - I welcome the letters from Paul Bowler and Stanley A. Siev (May 2nd) criticising my article on flaws in the Middle-East and Irish peace processes (World View, April 21st). But I'm afraid their closed minds offer little solution.
In their knee-jerk defence of "Israel's right to exist", it is disturbing that they overlook glaringly obvious facts:
1. Israel stands alone in the world as the most frequent breaker of UN resolutions on human rights and territorial abuse;
2. Some 400 Palestinian people, including women and children, have been killed - many in cold blood - by Israeli armed forces in the past seven months alone.
Given this blindness, it is not surprising that Mr Bowler and Mr Siev miss the fundamental point - namely, that the states of Israel and Northern Ireland are artificial political constructs, designed to serve the geopolitical interests of the US and Britain. Their creation and maintenance rely on the violation of other peoples' legitimate rights. Without addressing that fact, the so-called peace processes are but a cynical "permanent interim agreement" to revamp the international images of these psuedo-states.
Unfortunately, the peace that the majority of ordinary people deserve (including Catholic, Protestant, Palestinian and Israeli) will continue to be painfully frustrated.
Finally, as a professional journalist, I would like to assure Mr Siev that my article was extensively researched, relying on sources other than the excellent Edward Said. As regards Mr Siev's call for "deeper and more thought-out argumentation", I would contend that this is often just a ploy for self-serving ambiguity and procrastination. Sometimes, the truth is uncomfortably simple. - Yours, etc.,
Finian Cunningham, Dunboyne, Co Meath.