Madam, - Taking Vincent Browne to task for his failure to acknowledge Israel's "right to defend itself", Dara O'Sullivan (August 3th) asserts that "while the anxiety of the US may be imaginary, the terror in Israel is too real".
This common argument postulates the existence of a free-floating "terror" emanating from the malice of inherently wicked Arabs. The cause of this "terror" is ignored: the unremitting savagery of the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, with its road-blocks, curfews, collective punishment, internment without trial, and torture - all attested to by Israeli human rights groups as well as by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
It must be reasserted for the umpteenth time that Israel's best and only form of self-defence is to end the illegal occupation and dismantle its illegal settlements on Palestinian territory. - Yours, etc.,
RAYMOND DEANE, Chairman, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Dublin 1.