Sir, - There is a certain amount of hostility towards the actions of the Israeli government in the letters pages of many newspapers, The Irish Times included. This does not amount to hostility to Israel itself.
Israel can be a force for good, provided such political will exists in that country. The people of Israel, as a sovereign population, are entitled to carry out whatever practices they feel befit their history and status, provided those practices do not compromise the human rights of their citizens and especially those of their neighbours, the much put-upon Palestinians.
It is not remotely anti-Semitic to contend that the Palestinian Arabs who currently live under Israeli military occupation are human and that the land which they have lived on for generations belongs to them and does not belong to Israel. It is not anti-Israeli to state that those Arabs should be allowed to travel without fear of death by sniper and that the water which Israel currently siphons from their lands should be paid for by Israel. It is not outrageous to remind Israel of the United Nations declaration which calls on it to return the lands which it captured in the Sis-Day War of 1967.
It is actually rather pragmatic to call for an end to Israel's ludicrous settlement policy, since 400,000 settlers have brought neither peace nor respect to Israel.
In any case, Uncle Sam now sees that America's interests are not served by supporting Ariel Sharon's vision of a patchwork of arid Palestinian bantustans interspersed with islands of well-watered settler fortresses. Mr Sharon's current policies are contrary to the long-term interests of the Israeli people. - Is mise,
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