Madam, - Mark Steyn (October 6th) may take the precaution of claiming that only "a sizeable proportion of the Palestinian population" is separated by "a chasm" from "all Jews", but the subtext of his latest piece is quite simple: Palestinians aren't human.
The West Bank is "a wholly diseased environment" and "Nothing good grows in toxic soil. You cannot have a real peace with such people," he tells us, without pausing to reflect on the brutal and illegal occupation to which "such people" have been subjected since 1967.
He then contrasts the present-day Occupied Territories with Ireland in 1922, on the factually incorrect premise that "Ten years ago, the Palestinian Authority was given powers that fell somewhere between those of ... Quebec and the Irish Free State" - somewhere between Soweto and the Transkei would be more accurate. Mr Steyn is clearly unaware that the first government of the Free State had most of the island at its disposal, that the territory was contiguous and free of illegal settlements.
Mr. Steyn betrays his mentality in the first two paragraphs where, in tones echoing Kevin Myers, he recalls the German and British soldiers playing footie at Christmas 1914. The lesson? "Our common humanity transcends the temporary hell of war", but only if we belong to the civilised races of the world. The Palestinians, whose spokespersons apparently "hog the airwaves at CNN and the BBC" (from which in reality they are almost excluded), are separated by "a psychological fence" from "all Jews". Fortunately, there are Jews in Israel and elsewhere who have no time for such venom, and who are working patiently against the illegal occupation that is the ultimate cause of carnage in Israel/Palestine. A pity these voices are so rarely enlisted by The Irish Times. - Yours, etc.
RAYMOND DEANE, Chairman, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Dames Street, Dublin 2.