Madam, - Chris Patten (March 15th) is to be congratulated on bringing some sense of reality to discussions about Palestine, particularly to the futility of imposing recognition of the state of Israel as a precondition to any peace discussions.
Does anyone imagine that peace negotiations in Northern Ireland could ever have been moved forward if prior recognition of what one side insisted on calling "the six counties statelet" had been demanded by the other side?
The insistence by Israeli, US and other governments that the Palestinian side must formally accept "Israel's right to exist" as a prerequisite for peace talks can only ensure that such talks will never get off the ground - which, of course, may well be their intention in imposing the condition in the first place. - Yours, etc,
COLM O'SULLIVAN,
Cloghroe,
Co Cork.