Madam, – Nadav Cohen from the Israeli embassy (Letters, January 23rd) says that Hamas “ended” last year’s ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This gives a less than complete account of events surrounding the ceasefire and its eventual demise.
In reality, from the outset, Israel failed to honour its commitment under the ceasefire agreement to lift its economic blockade of Gaza. And on November 4th it made a military incursion into Gaza, again contrary to the ceasefire agreement, and killed six members of Hamas. After this military incursion into Gaza, the first since the ceasefire began on June 19th, Hamas restarted rocket and mortar firing into Israel.
However, from June 19th until November 4th, despite Israel maintaining its economic blockade of Gaza, Hamas fired no rockets or mortars into Israel (and there was only a small amount of firing by groups other than Hamas). In that period, no Israeli civilians were killed by this firing.
All this was confirmed by IsraeIi spokesman, Mark Regev, on More4 News on the evening of January 9th.
In that period as a whole, there was a reduction of 98 per cent in the frequency of rocket and mortar firing, compared with the earlier part of 2008 before the ceasefire came into operation.
For example, only one rocket and three mortars were fired in September, and two rockets and no mortars in October, compared with 153 rockets and 84 mortars in the first 18 days of June, before the ceasefire came into operation.
Up until November 4th, the ceasefire arrangements had been very successful in reducing the threat to Israeli citizens, even though Israel didn’t lift its economic blockade of Gaza.
Clearly, from the point of view of keeping Israeli citizens safe, Israel’s assault on Gaza beginning on December 27th was totally unnecessary.
All Israel had to do to maintain the calm of last September and October was to stick to the terms of the ceasefire agreement. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Katrina Goldstone et al (January 22nd) suggest that anyone writing to you in support of Israel is somehow claiming to speak for them. I, for one, have always expressed my own views and I have never suggested that they represented those of others. And I too, as may be deduced from my surname, am Jewish – and proud to be counted as such – and, like all right-minded people across the world, I am deeply dismayed with the tragic loss of life in Gaza and in Southern Israel.
Nevertheless, I recognise that Israel has not only a right but a duty to defend its citizens from attack.
From time to time, like many of your correspondents, I have been critical of Israel’s actions – but, accepting that I live here in Ireland and consequently cannot be fully aware of all the facts, this has always been in a constructive manner.
Which brings me to the letter from Prof Anderson et al (January 23rd) calling for a “moratorium on the funding of Israeli academic institutions by national and European cultural and research institutions. . .”.
Such action would be counter-productive, serving only to cut off avenues of dialogue in the ongoing quest for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. – Yours, etc,