Shining light on Middle East

Sir, - Well done The Courier for reporting the experience of Angus stonemason Alex Holmes in the West Bank with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI).

He reports military force surrounding a village at dawn, demolitions of business premises and irrecoverable losses to already disadvantaged people.

Such activity is seldom reported in the Western press, but Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) witness and report on such

events all the time.

I was an EA in 2009 and witnessed night raids on village homes and teenagers being dragged from their families, blindfolded, handcuffed, interrogated and often imprisoned without due process.

Worst of all are the house demolitions with little or no notice, often with the entire contents of the house within.

Is all this legal? In Israeli terms, sometimes. But the West Bank and Gaza are occupied territories and international law applies and, under international law, these activities are almost never legal.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2004 confirmed the illegality of Israeli settlements in occupied territory and of parts of the Israeli separation barrier. It ordered Israel to remove the illegal parts of the barrier.

Israel disregards the ICJ, international law and the UN and its resolutions despite its very existence arising from a UN resolution, a resolution which also promised a Palestinian state.

There has been a huge loss of life in Israel/Palestine since 1948, many Israelis, and very many more Palestinians and the loss of life continues today.

EAPPI upholds the legitimacy of Israel. It works for a peaceful end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, which is the policy of the UN and of almost every member state. Fraser Ritchie. 1 Craigshannoch Road, Wormit.