Sir, - Maurice Abrahamson (December 14th) and Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, December 7th) need to get real about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The chances are that there would be much less incentive for young Palestinian to blow themselves and innocent Israelis up if the West Bank and Gaza Strip had not been under brutal and illegal military occupation by Israel for the past 34 years; if over 250 Palestinian children had not been shot by the Israeli defence forces since the new intifada started last September; if the Israeli Prime Minister were not an indictable war criminal; if settlements were not still being constructed; if 80 per cent of the aquifers under the West Bank were not solely for the use of Israel and the settlers; if the Palestinian economy had not spiralled into oblivion under the Oslo process; if the Israelis were not attacking the Palestinian Authority with F-16 fighter aircraft, Apache helicopters, Merkava tanks.
The list could be extended much further.
Simply to say that suicide bombing is "unfathomable" is an ethical and intellectual cop-out and denial. - Yours, etc.,
Conor McCarthy, De Vesci Court, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.