Letter to the Irish Times this morning
Jim Carroll

'Cycle of violence'
Sir, - The deaths of three Israeli teenagers (murders we condemn) received front-page coverage in your paper (July 1st). Such human suffering and loss of life is always deplorable and deserves front-page cover¬age.
What we fail to understand is why the regular abductions and murders of young Palestinians by the Israeli army are denied the same attention.
Many questions come to mind as we read the article by Mark Weiss. His account gives the impression that these events took place in a sovereign territory and not in an occupied territory under full Israeli army control.
Moreover, and throughout his article, Mr Weiss omits to mention the words "occupied" and "settlers", nor does he make reference to the two weeks of harsh collective punishment imposed on the entire Palestinian population as the Israeli army searched for the three teenagers. In those two weeks, nine Palestinians were killed, two died of heart attack when the army raided their houses, tens were injured, many were orphaned, 640 were arrested, and families saw their homes demolished by the Israeli army.
Surely a prestigious newspaper such as The Irish Times should endeavour to be as impartial and objective as possible. This could be achieved by having journalists actually venture into the occupied West Bank, thus relaying the two sides of the story and its consequences for people on both sides of the Separation Wall (built by Israel within the occupied West Bank and declared illegal by the International Court of Justice exactly 10 years ago).
Security and peace cannot be achieved by force and violence. It is only by ending Israel's occupation of the West Bank and implementing a two-state solution that we will have a fair chance for peace.
We hope that the subsequent abduction and murder, this morning, by Israeli settlers of Mohammad Hussein Abukh-deir, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy from Jerusalem whom they tortured before burning his body, will receive the same attention. - Yours, etc,
AHMAD ABDELRAZEK,
Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Ireland,
Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin.