The Minister for Foreign Affairs has criticised the Israeli government for its recent actions and disputed their description of the Palestinian Authority as an entity that supports terrorism.
Mr Cowen has written twice to the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres. In a strongly worded letter sent yesterday he conveyed "my deep disappointment at the extent and severity of the Israeli retaliation", fearing it would lead to a further escalation of violence.
"We see it as reinforcing and driving a vicious circle of attack and reprisal. We do not agree with the Israeli description of the Palestinian Authority as an entity that supports terrorism. We do not see what other partner Israel can have in fighting the terrorists," said Mr Cowen.
Nor did they see, he said, how destroying the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority and attacking its police stations and security forces could possibly help the authority to deal with the men of violence, as demanded by Israel.
"At the same time, these Israeli attacks, along with the continuing incursions into Palestinian territory, closure of Palestinian towns and settlement-building, undermine the domestic political support which President Arafat needs if he is to combat terrorism effectively."
In an address to the Joint-Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday, Mr Cowen called on both sides to take the steps which they know are necessary. He called particularly on the Israeli Government to cease its current military action and to set about rebuilding the security and political partnership with the Palestinian Authority "which alone offers any hope of escaping from this dreadful conflict".
He also expressed the Government's grave concern at the Israeli helicopter attacks on Monday afternoon in the vicinity of President Arafat's headquarters. "I called on Israel to desist from such attacks and to exercise the greatest restraint and prudence so as not to risk a further escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences."
In his first letter to Mr Peres, the Minister expressed the Government's sympathy and utterly condemned the suicide bomb attacks on Israeli civilians. "I said that no cause justifies the deliberate taking of innocent lives."
Denis Staunton adds from Brussels:
Meanwhile the European Union has acknowledged Israel's right to defend itself but urged against destroying the Palestinian Authority. A spokesman for the External Affairs Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, said that Israel needed Mr Arafat's administration as a peace partner.
"While the right of the Israeli government to defend itself against terrorism is recognised, at the same time we call on Israel for a measured and proportionate response within respect of the rule of law," he said.
EU member-states made clear yesterday that they were unwilling to side with Israel in the destruction of the Palestinian Authority, which depends on EU funding to survive. The EU's special envoy in the Middle East, Mr Miguel Angel Moratinos, warned of a "terminal situation" in the region.
"Yasser Arafat's margin for manoeuvring is very limited. He has to make a clear strategic decision regarding the situation," he said.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, held emergency talks by telephone with both sides and the Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, who holds the EU presidency, called on Israelis and Palestinians to de-escalate the conflict.
The French Foreign Minister, Mr Hubert Vedrine, went further, criticising Israel's decision to attack Mr Arafat's headquarters.
"Everything must be done to stop the kamikaze bloodshed and the terrorism. But to take on the Palestinian Authority, to weaken it, or even to eliminate it, would be a fatal error," he said.