Madam, - I intended to use this letter to list what Pat O'Sullivan (March 11th) refers to as "the inconveniences regrettably visited on some Palestinians". But as I worked my way through the catalogue of wrongs being inflicted on the Palestinian people at the hands of Ariel Sharon I thought to myself, "What's the point?" If someone is able to bring themselves to describe such treatment of a people in such a way then no amount of pointing to the facts will change their mind.
It might, however, be worthwhile for Mr O'Sullivan to reflect on why Israeli Air Force pilots and Special Forces have increasingly been refusing to carry out operations in the Occupied Territories. Their reasoning is not simply that such operations against largely civilian targets overstep the mandate of the Israeli Defence Forces, but that they do so to such an extent that they put at risk Israel's very future as a nation.
The Arab nations will not forever be permitted by their populations to sit on their hands while their brothers are brutalised, no matter what level of US aid it brings them. And if Israel is ever realistically threatened by its neighbours I believe it will have long since lost any public sympathy in the international community.
The state of Israel is approaching a crucial point in its history. Only by understanding the inherent wrongness of its belligerence and its leader's policy of "always escalate" will it be able to safely navigate the road ahead. Without such a realisation no amount of security barriers will keep the peace in the Middle East. - Yours, etc.,
BILL MURPHY, Thomas Davis Street, Dublin 8.