Letters | 10 May 2008

Israel and Palestine

Sir: Melanie Phillips (‘Happy 60th birthday, Israel’, 3 May) denies Israel one of its greatest successes over the last 60 years by deliberately ignoring its status as a regional military and economic superpower. The image of Israel as a David to an Arab Goliath is massively outdated. Arab states have long since given up any notion of trying to defeat a US-backed, nuclear-armed Israel, but have offered Israel a full withdrawal for full peace option.

Another blind spot is Phillips’s routine denial of Palestinian identity. This is as idiotic as denying an Israeli identity. Even Israel’s leaders have begrudgingly accepted this. In addition, she continually condones all Israeli actions, effectively justifying everlasting military occupation and colonisation and the collective punishment of an entire civilian population. This continues today with Israel still occupying both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, now little better than open-air prisons with Israeli soldiers as wardens.