Sir, - I write on behalf of the Palestinian community in Ireland to express our deepest concern and disappointment at the way Mrs Mary Robinson, UN Human Rights Commissioner, has been received in Israel in the past few days. It is rather frightening, to say the least. Many people are aware of the daily atrocities and brutal killing of our Palestinian people at the hands of the fourth superpower, using unjustified excessive force in confronting stone-throwing, defenceless civilians. Israel has tried its best to keep the whole world in the dark about its ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, with its failing diplomats doing their best to justify their barbaric policies.
Mrs Robinson arrived in Israel despite the strong reluctance of the Israeli government to receive her or to offer her assistance in her honourable mission. As she travelled from one Palestinian enclave to another she had to go through Israeli settlement areas as well as Israeli checkpoints, especially outside the city of Hebron in the West Bank, where an Israeli settler opened fire on her entourage and hit one of the cars. She was also confronted by many settlers at checkpoints and perhaps many of us have seen on TV how an Israeli lady settler bashed Mrs Robinson's car with a large iron bar.
How can Israel justify such treatment of a UN envoy such as Mrs Robinson, a dignified lady of integrity and unbiased outlook? The only explanation is that Israel does not want more of its ugly face exposed to the world. The past six weeks have shown a brutal, racist and apartheid regime that still considers itself above the rest of the world while exploiting US veto support. However, reality is something else, and Mrs Robinson will enlighten us more soon - or will she? - Yours, etc.,
Yousef Allan, Delegate General of Palestine to Ireland, Haddington Road, Dublin 4.