Madam, - Your Editorial "Palestinians divided" (February 6th) fails to point out that the divisions between Hamas and Fatah - respectively victors and losers in the democratic elections of one year ago - have been exacerbated by the US's insistence on supplying arms and training, via Israel, to Fatah in an attempt to reverse the results of that election.
You fail to comment on the irony of the Quartet - the US, EU, UN and Russia - calling for Hamas's "recognition of Israel, an end to military activity, and acceptance of previous peace agreements" without a concomitant call on Israel to recognise Palestinian rights, stop ongoing IDF activity against Palestinian civilians, and accept previous agreements concerning a freeze on settlement activity as well as the demands of international law concerning the illegal wall within the West Bank.
I am also puzzled by your reference to "moderate Arab states". Could this refer to such grisly dictatorships and police states as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, not one of which has ever held an election as exemplary as the one that brought Hamas to power 13 months ago? - Yours, etc,
RAYMOND DEANE, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Dame Street, Dublin 1.