Abbas and Olmert are working for a settlement

YUSSEF DORKHOM of the Palestinian General Delegation to Ireland makes a number of assertions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which are incorrect (Letters, February 8).

Firstly he argues that Israel should negotiate with Hamas in Gaza even though Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, whom he represents in Ireland, refuses to talk with them.

Mr Dorkhom gives the impression there are no negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

But the fact is that since December 2007 his elected president, Mahmoud Abbas, has been working closely with Israeli prime minister Barak Olmert to achieve a settlement to end the conflict.

With regard to the second intifada and current peace efforts, Mr Dorkhom seems to overlook the views of his own president. In an interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-rai (27/09/’04), Abbas admitted it was a mistake for the Palestinians to start the second intifada.

One of the results was that infrastructure projects such as the Gaza seaport, that Mr Dorkhom alleges Israel destroyed, was in fact never started because of the violence.

One of the fundamental obstacles to peace is that the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip became and remains a base for terrorist attacks against southern Israel.

In spite of the security challenge posed by militants in Gaza, Israel is committed to the realisation of the two-state solution: Israel as the homeland for the Jewish people and the future state of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinians.

Nadav Cohen

Counsellor

Embassy of Israel

Dublin