IRELAND: The Israeli embassy in Dublin has said it cannot do any more to ensure the safety of Irish peace activist Ms Caoimhe Butterly as she had refused to leave Mr Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah.
Mr Boaz Rodkin, an embassy counsellor, said Ms Butterly was told twice that she was free to go but had refused to do so.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, phoned the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, yesterday. He said he emphasised the need for Israel to permit consular access by Irish officials to Irish nationals in Ramallah and other Palestinian towns.
Mr Peres said he would see what could be done to facilitate the request. Mr Cowen also expressed his sympathy at the terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens.
Meanwhile two women, Ms Natasha Aguilla and Ms Venus Kamura, are protesting in trees in the grounds of the embassy in Ballsbridge about Ms Butterly's case.
They said they would not leave until they got assurances regarding her safety and that of another Irish woman, Ms Mary Kelly, who is in Bethlehem. However, the embassy is closed presently for the Passover festival and will not reopen until Friday.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Ms Butterly said she had been in Mr Arafat's compound since Friday. She was working with the Palestinian Red Cross when they got a call that two people had been shot, one critically.
She said they were held at gunpoint and searched when they were bringing out the wounded men. The men in the group were arrested and held at a military base for a few hours, Ms Butterly said.
She decided to return to the compound on the pretext that she had left medical supplies there, and said she then chose to remain.
"The water supply has been cut for the last few days. There is no food at the moment. We are very low in medicine," she said.
Ms Mary Kelly, a peace activist in Bethlehem, said yesterday she was part of a group that had been shot at on Monday. Speaking on RTÉ radio, she said tanks had started shelling where she was staying and one reporter was shot in the back of the neck.
She was visiting a family that had been attacked when they were confronted by a tank.
