Madam, - Space forbids a point-by-point refutation of the falsehoods contained in Sean Gannon's article in your edition of January 21st, so I shall content myself with a selection.
The Israeli Kahan Commission not only established Ariel Sharon's "indirect responsibility" (not "of the most indirect kind" as Mr Gannon glosses it) for the Sabra and Shatila massacre, but also rebutted the claim - shamefully repeated by Mr Gannon - that the neo-Nazi Lebanese Phalange entered the camps "to root out PLO terrorist cells". The PLO fighters had long since left the camp, leaving thousands of civilians at the mercy of Israeli and Phalangist revenge.
While failing to mention that Israel's security fence/apartheid wall was deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in July 2004, Mr Gannon repeats the hoary claim that it "was a Barak-era idea of the Israeli left". The Israeli "left" (which in any normal country would be regarded as the "right") planned a wall that would be built on the 1967 provisional borders, not deep within Palestinian territory.
According to Mr Gannon it was "Arafat's effective refusal to accept" the Clinton plan "which doomed the Camp David-Taba peace process". Not true.
Ehud Barak broke off the Taba talks just as they were bearing fruit, and refused to return to the bargaining table despite the late Palestinian president's pleas. - Yours, etc,
RAYMOND DEANE, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Dame Street, Dublin 2.