Middle East in turmoil

THAT the Israeli state marked the 70th anniversary of its creation and the U.S.’s provocative decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem by massacring dozens of unarmed Palestinian protesters is an atrocity. It is being described as a clash, but it was a one-sided attack.

Since March, thousands of Gaza’s residents, living under an illegal Israeli blockade, have been protesting for their right to return to their homeland. Israeli security forces have responded violently, killing more than a hundred unarmed Palestinians, including children.

Yet in the face of the bloodshed, too many in the West have been quick to minimise or even excuse this statesanctioned murder.

The White house labelled the lives lost at the hands of Israeli troops as ‘part of the problem’ as it celebrated moving its embassy to Jerusalem.

The UK Government and Labour Friends of Israel blamed unarmed Palestinians for daring to protest against their repression and raised the spectre of hamas. Greens support a two-state solution, but this has never seemed so far away.

KEITH TAYLOR, Green Party MEP for the South East,

Brussels, Belgium.

The Palestinians are not protesters. They do not want peace or a twostate solution. They are not fighting for individual rights, free speech and a free society. They regard all of Israel as occupied territory and the destruction of Israel is their goal.

hamas and its supporters are morally responsible for all the deaths and destruction resulting from Israeli retaliatory force necessitated by assaults on Israel.

D. S. A. MURRAY, Dorking, Surrey.