Israel sowing the seeds of vengeance
In response to Mike O'Neill's tirade of hateful abuse against Palestinian Arabs in Gaza (Letters, January 28), let me address his skewed interpretation of the situation there.
Firstly, Mr O'Neill congratulates the Israeli government for "taking the correct steps to protect its citizens".
I'm unsure whether John Ging would agree with that. Ging, an Irishman, heads the UN Human Relief Agency(UNHRA) in Gaza, the organisation responsible for distributing food and water to the more than 80pc of Gazans who rely on such aid to live.
He reported that almost all of his food trucks were being denied access to the strip.
How can denying food access to over one million people who live on less than $2 per day possibly contribute to the safety of Israeli citizens?
How can cutting off electricity to hospitals who treat sick people possibly contribute to security for Israel?
It does not. Rather, it is a brutal collective punishment on a defenceless, impoverished and generally innocent population. Quite understandably, it fosters hatred of Israeli leaders among Gazans, thus breeding a new generation of militants and exposing Israelis to more rocket fire. So no, Mr O'Neill, these are not just "mere fuel shortages" and are not "very restrained".
Regrettably, Eddie Naughton (Letters, January 28) manages the seemingly impossible by sounding yet more ill-informed than his fellow zionist sympathiser.
He states his belief that Israel is "a real democracy". Democracies do not deny the right of return for refugees who were forced from their homes on account of their religion or ethnicity.
Democracies do not confiscate farmland and demolish homes of the indigenous people in order to settle their own people on such land.
Democracies do not shell civilian targets in war resulting in the deaths of over 1,900 innocent bystanders.
And democracies do not breach in excess of 160 UN resolutions in the process of such destruction. Rather, such behaviour resembles the horrors of South African apartheid and Nazi Germany.
Mark Connolly
Marlton Road, Wicklow
