Sir, – Israel’s reckless and indiscriminate detonation of explosives attached to thousands of electrical devices in Lebanon has wreaked a terrible toll on the civilian population.
Rather than target members of Hizbullah, as your correspondent suggests (“Fourteen killed in second wave of explosions across Lebanon”, World News, September 19th), the bombs terrorised and inflicted maximum casualties on civilians, which is reflected in the children, funeral mourners and medical workers counted among the dead.
International humanitarian law is clear in protecting non-combatants during armed conflict and prohibiting attacks on civilian populations and property. But Israel has repeatedly acted with disregard for international law and has dismissed the July ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world’s highest court, that its occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful.
The second wave of bombings in Lebanon coincided with overwhelming support (124-14) for a resolution in the UN General Assembly calling on Israel to end its illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories within a year.
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We can expect that resolution, too, to be ignored. The Taoiseach, Simon Harris, has described the attacks on Lebanon as “utterly despicable and extraordinarily dangerous”. But the time has long passed for rhetoric to be converted into action.
The Government should end its stalling on passing into law the Occupied Territories Bill and the Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill. These are minimal requirements for a state seeking to comply with the ICJ ruling. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN McCLOSKEY,
Director, Centre for
Global Education,
Belfast.
Sir, – I woke this morning to a different, shocking newsreel. Not the usual footage of bombed children or families running from airstrikes. And not the images of scattered Lebanese market goers as a pager exploded in their vicinity. But this: a Gazan woman lifting her small children and their bedding as the sea engulfed their tent yesterday. Her husband was trying to build a wall of sand to keep out the water.
People have been forced to pitch their tents right up to the sea, as refugees are crowded into smaller and smaller “safe areas”.
When will the time come that Western states will act to stop this Israeli onslaught? Ireland, three weeks after seeking fresh legal advice, could now move to enact the Occupied Territories Bill to stop trade with illegal settlements. We cannot wait any longer. – Yours, etc,
BETTY PURCELL,
Dublin 6W.