Madam, - Your edition of July 20th reports that Senator Terry Leyden feels embarrassed about an Irish company having an involvement in the construction of what he describes a "wall of shame" on the West Bank.
I must agree with the senator that it is indeed a shame that people have to construct walls to protect themselves from their neighbours - India and Pakistan, North and South Korea, the US and Mexico, Spain and Morocco, Cyprus and Turkey, Botswana and Zimbabwe and last but not least walls between two strands of Christianity in Belfast, to name but a few.
After the recent experiences of the citizens of London, I am sure that if they could build a wall to protect themselves from future attack they would be considering such a course.
A study of history does not offer much hope that that man will ever reach a stage when the walls will come tumbling down. In the meantime we must be mindful that good fences make good neighbours. - Yours, etc,
MONTY ROSS, President, Irish Friends of Israel, Templeogue Road, Dublin 6w.
Madam, - Senator Terry Leyden's call for a boycott of CRH for its role in building Israel's "wall of shame" in the West Bank is very timely, given that it is just over a year since the International Court of Justice declared this wall illegal.
Given the ICJ ruling, CRH's involvement in the wall's construction means it contributes to, and profits from, the horrendous human rights violations which this wall has wrought upon hundreds of thousands of ordinary innocent Palestinians.
Amnesty Ireland magazine reported last September that "[ Amnesty's] Irish section has met with executives from CRH twice recently and they accepted that 'in all probability' their cement is being used in the construction of the fence/wall".
The denial by CRH's managing director Declan Doyle of direct "involvement" in the wall's construction is a cynical linguistic fudge - cement being a raw material rather than an active agent in construction.
The ICJ ruling placed an onus on third parties not to render any aid whatsoever to this illegal wall. If one drop of its cement is going into the wall's construction, then CRH is under obligation to disinvest from Israel. Until it does, we must follow Senator Leyden's advice and force it to do it by way of boycott. - Yours, etc,
HUGH HARKIN, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Dublin 2.