Madam, - Alan Shatter (October 28th) writes about "the right of Palestinians to negotiate their own destiny". The Palestinians have no need to negotiate their right to the State they were given by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on November 29th 1947. It is lawfully theirs already. The problem is the intransigence of both successive Israeli governments and US administrations in defying about 100 UN Resolutions on the Palestinian issue.
The recent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was merely from two-thirds of the Gaza Strip given to the Palestinians by the United Nations. - Yours, etc,
JAMES MORTELL, Kilbreckstown, Stamullen, Co Meath.
Madam, - So Hilary Clinton has expressed her support for the wall that Israel is building within the West Bank, thus sending a signal to right-wing Zionists in the US that they should support her presidential nomination in 2008 (The Irish Times, November 14th).
A minor detail: in July 2004 the International Court of Justice found that the wall was in breach of international law, that it should be dismantled, and that Palestinians should be compensated for the untold damage it has caused to their lives.
Mrs Clinton is therefore starting her presidential campaign with a clear statement of contempt for international law, and of support for the heinous principle that Israel is above the law and the Palestinians beneath it. - Yours, etc,
RAYMOND DEANE, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Dame Street, Dublin 2.