Madam, - Not for the first time, Kevin Myers has used his column to attack me personally. He accuses me of silence on certain matters concerning the current tragic situation in Israel and Palestine. In fact I wrote a letter a few short weeks ago (March 8th) to your newspaper addressing many of these issues.
It was not published. Since his column appeared I have offered to write an article in reply for your newspaper, but this was refused. In the circumstances, accusing me of silence in response to his questions is rather like disabling, muffling and gagging someone and then berating them for their lack of response when they don't reply.
Mr Myers asks what the Israelis are to do in the present crisis. Are they to demolish the wall?
The plain, simple and straight answer is yes, at least in its present configuration.
If they must build such a wall, then according to all decency, humanity and international law they should build it on their own territory, where it would legitimately protect them.
What is happening now is an illegal land grab, the terrorisation of an entire population group and the imprisoning of hundreds of thousands of people in what is no less shameful than the equivalent of a ghetto.
It is a frightful thought that a Jewish state would commit such an act.
Mr Myers then asks, using childishly abusive terminology, which I will not repeat, if persons like myself "will agree to join a queue of Israelis at the nearest bus stop next to where the wall used to be?" He then answers this himself, saying "No? Ah. Why not?".
Perhaps Mr Myers will permit me on this occasion to answer for myself. Perhaps also it will interest Mr Myers to know that I have frequently stood at such bus stops.
My beloved friends, both Arab and Jewish, still go to these places which are exposed to risk.
And yes, Mr Myers, within a few weeks I will be back in Israel visiting the people I love. I will be apprehensive.
I will not be able to do with an easy mind all those things I would like to, but it is a country I love and know very well and I will not be prevented from going there by terrorists of any ilk.
Mr Myers says that although he is grateful that media coverage of the Seanad is very thin, he doesn't seem to have heard any member of the Seanad asking what the impact would be if bombs of this nature were let off in Rathmines or Ranelagh.
Perhaps this is because he doesn't listen very hard to people with whom he doesn't agree. I have said this repeatedly in the House and on the air waves; it is scarcely my fault if Mr Myers was not paying attention.
But none of these things confers upon me the right to trample an innocent civilian population into the dirt as is happening now. Nor is my view unique; it is shared by many courageous Israelis, who work to defend the Arab population from the brutalities inflicted upon them by American colonists and their allies within the Israeli army.
And even on the political front there are those like the Interior Minister, Poraz, the Justice Minister, Lapid, who both decried Sharon's action in exploding the crippled Hamas leader in his wheelchair with a rocket.
Now don't get me wrong, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was a nasty piece of work. But even he deserved a trial and due process of law and when these principles are abandoned, those who prate about democracy are in fact leading us into tyranny.
I hope I have answered some of Mr Myers's questions.
I will be happy to answer all of his questions in any forum in which he wishes to debate the matter. I remain both a lover of Israel and of humane values. - Yours, etc.,
Senator DAVID NORRIS,
Seanad Éireann,
Dublin 2.