Madam, – While Israel’s announcement today that it will ease restrictions on Gaza is a positive step, it will do little to change the status quo.
The measures are nowhere near the unfettered access required to address the scale of Gaza’s problems. Nor will it allow Palestinians to rebuild their economy and become less reliant on international assistance, creating a real foundation for peace.
The present blockade means that Israel controls anything coming in and out of Gaza. This will not alter – Israel will still control entry and exit of goods and people, limiting any real effort towards stimulating Gaza’s economy to allow people to secure their own livelihoods.
The people of Gaza need help to rebuild their economy, to trade freely with the outside world, to work to support their families, and to seek education and medical assistance freely and live dignified lives. This is the only real foundation for peace and security in the region.
Current efforts should be continued to ensure that this illegal situation is ended, rather than reworking the parameters to ease its impact. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Dermot Donnelly (June 15th) asserts that when President Ahmadinejad quoted the previous Iranian President Ayatollah Khomeini’s words that “this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the pages of time” he was merely calling for the end of the occupation of Jerusalem and no more.
I would, however, point out that it was not merely Israel and many other countries that perceived such words to mean nothing less than the elimination of Israel altogether, but much more importantly, so did the Palestinians. For example, Saeb Erekat, the highly regarded and well-known senior Palestinian negotiator responded to President Ahmadinejad’s statement as follows: “The Palestinians recognise the right of the state of Israel to exist and I reject his comments. What we need to be talking about is adding Palestine to the map and not wiping Israel from the map.”
More telling is the fact that President Ahmadinejad has never once tried to correct any alleged misinterpretations of his remarks, and pointedly has never acknowledged Israel’s right to exist. – Yours, etc,