Alfred O Thompsett (Letters, April 9) charged Israel with invasion, occupation, theft of land and property, illegal settlements and being reminiscent of the Nazis, followed by a kind of "some of my best friends are Jews" comment which did nothing to remove the stench of anti-Semitism from his letter.

The land in question - all of Palestine - is Jewish and has been for 3,000 years.

It is documented and beyond question. Jews have lived there throughout.

If Mr O Thompsett were to dig under it, he would find Jewish coins, cities, pottery and evidence of Jewish culture.

He might recall Jesus and his family were Jewish and lived in Bethlehem.

The city names are Jewish. Who lived in Hebron except the Hebrews? Who lived in Judea? No one else has any claim to this land but the Jews. His accusations, and those of so many others, are hysterical nonsense.

Mr O Thompsett referred to morality. The Jews have no other homeland. They seek one tiny sliver of land and the capital, Jerusalem.

The homeland that Britain promised to set aside for the Jews in 1917 comprised present-day Israel and the whole of what is now called Jordan. It has since been whittled down to the miniscule size of Israel today.

The Palestinian Arabs were offered a state out of land that was part of Israel but turned to terrorism.

I wonder whether anything would satisfy them, or Mr Thompsett, short of every Israeli Jew walking into the sea and drowning himself.

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