Sir, – Desmond FitzGerald (July 27th) should have checked his facts. If he had done so, he would have been aware that Hikmat Ajjuri is indeed entitled to call himself an ambassador.
The Government announced the decision, earlier this year, to upgrade the Palestinian diplomatic representation in this country to the status of an official embassy, joining a growing list of European countries that have made the same move.
Israel holds the record for ignoring UN Security Council resolutions. If the Palestinian state is recognised and accepted by the UN, it will have to go a long way before it surpasses Israel’s record. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Although it is not regularly reported in the international media, there are many Israelis, as well as members of the diaspora, who would support Palestinian nationhood.
However, for Palestine to gain de facto and de jure recognition, it must adhere to all UN resolutions, including full recognition of the state of Israel.
This cannot be done until Hamas removes from its constitution its demand for the destruction of the Jewish state and agrees to the removal of all weaponry belonging to that organisation.
It was not long ago when similar demands were made of the IRA. Funnily enough, it never demanded the destruction of the UK.
Furthermore, the future Palestine should acknowledge and support full reparations for confiscated property as well as the human rights of one million Jews (and their three million descendants in Israel alone) expelled from Arab lands after the establishment of Israel.
Only then, when there is some semblance of fair play between Jew and Arab, will there a lasting solution and the eventual birth of a Palestinian state.
It will take more than supporting a flotilla of political crackpots or attempting to label a Western-style democracy as an apartheid state to persuade the world to support Palestinian statehood. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The current efforts of the Palestinian leadership to achieve statehood by browbeating western countries and others into recognising Palestine as an independent state at the United Nations is yet another example of their ongoing failure to accept any level of responsibility for not reaching a peace settlement with Israel through negotiation.
If the world’s media were to adopt a more balanced stance on the conflict in the Middle East, then perhaps the Palestinians might consider solving their differences with Israel, instead of waiting for external pressure from activists and foreign governments to do so on their behalf. – Yours, etc,