Madam, – Dr Michael Woods, chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs (August 10th), writes that he took “serious exception at the remarks by the [Israeli] embassy”, which were in response to the statement of the Oireachtas Foreign and European Affairs Committee’s delegation who recently visited Gaza and Israel.
We appreciate the keen interest shown by members of these committees in promoting a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and are always willing to engage in positive dialogue with the committees and their chairmen.
I would like to elaborate on our previous comments on their statement. Out of 16 paragraphs in the statement, only one criticises Hamas, and another criticises the Palestinian Authority. The rest of the statement, in some form or another, relates to Israel. The report details the current humanitarian situation in Gaza. We wished it had also mentioned the historical and the current context for the situation in Gaza: that Hamas since its foundation in 1988 has waged unremitting terrorism against Israeli civilians; that 1,100 Israeli civilians were killed since 2000 in terror attacks; that Hamas fired over 12,000 rockets on a million Israeli civilians for eight years up until January this year; that Hamas continues to manufacture and import arms; and that it continues to refuse to recognize the State of Israel and renounce terrorism. As long as this is the state of affairs, Israel is obliged, for its own security, to take necessary measures that prevent Hamas from strengthening its terrorist capability.
Israel has stated time and time again that if Hamas were to accept the demands of the international community – recognise Israel’s right to exist, renounce terrorism, and accept all prior agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority – it could join the political process and put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people. It is Hamas, not Israel, that is responsible for perpetuating the current situation.
The new Israeli government has shown its readiness to resume peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority at any time and without any preconditions. Such negotiations hopefully will eventually produce the solution of two states for two peoples living side by side in peace.
– Yours, etc,