SIR – Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza (report, February 6) should not be discounted in kneejerk fashion because of an unrealistic belief in a two-state solution. It is abundantly clear that, over the past seven decades, two-state proposals have repeatedly been made, but to no avail.
All those who still push for it, including Sir Keir Starmer, should pay attention to what Albert Einstein (supposedly) said: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Dr John Wells
Amersham, Buckinghamshire
SIR – Allister Heath (Comment, February 6) rightly points to the West’s “swathes of over-credentialed but under-educated elite” who, in contrast with Donald Trump’s efforts to break the mould of failed “solutions”, simply repeat the same useless idea: to reward terrorists with a state from which to conduct future genocidal adventures.
That same elite pretends international law owes a state to a group of people led by Hamas, whose sole raison d’être is the obliteration of another people’s right to statehood, while ignoring the history of post-First World War international treaties from the 1920s.
These dispersed the Ottoman Empire’s lands, leading over time to the creation of 22 Arab states and, eventually, just one Jewish state.
When Churchill unilaterally severed the 77 per cent of Palestine on the east bank of the river Jordan in 1921, creating Trans-Jordan for the Hashemite Abdullah, he promised that land to be for the self-determination of Palestine’s Arabs. Thus today’s Jordan should absorb displaced Palestinians (report, February 7).
President Trump is on the right trajectory.
Roslyn Pine
London N3
SIR – If countries like Spain, Ireland and South Africa are so convinced that the citizens of Gaza are the victims of an ongoing genocide, then surely they have a duty to offer the Gazans a safe refuge (report, February 7).
The UN considers all Palestinians and their descendants to be refugees in perpetuity. Hillel Neuer, a lawyer and executive director of the human rights NGO UN Watch, this week observed: “If 1.6 million Palestinians in Gaza are refugees, why is it wrong for Jordan and Egypt to welcome them? If you object that this would uproot them from their homes and land in Gaza, then why are they being called refugees?”
My grandfather arrived in the UK as a refugee from Russian oppression in Lithuania in the early years of the 20th-century. Am I still a refugee? Are my children and grandchildren?
Brian Gedalla
London N3
SIR – It is appalling that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) planned a national protest against Israel as Hamas’s October 7 massacre was still taking place, and before any military action was taken in Gaza (report, February 7).
This shocking revelation exposes the true nature of these demonstrations, which have paralysed London for many months.
The promotion of terrorist activities is a serious criminal offence under UK law. Those responsible for organising, endorsing and participating in such protests must be held accountable. Authorities cannot turn a blind eye while our streets are used to amplify extremist agendas, no doubt radicalising many people in the UK.
Action must be taken now to uphold the law and protect public order.
Eli Hacohen
London SW9
SIR – Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza (report, February 6) should not be discounted in kneejerk fashion because of an unrealistic belief in a two-state solution. It is abundantly clear that, over the past seven decades, two-state proposals have repeatedly been made, but to no avail.
All those who still push for it, including Sir Keir Starmer, should pay attention to what Albert Einstein (supposedly) said: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Dr John Wells
Amersham, Buckinghamshire
SIR – Allister Heath (Comment, February 6) rightly points to the West’s “swathes of over-credentialed but under-educated elite” who, in contrast with Donald Trump’s efforts to break the mould of failed “solutions”, simply repeat the same useless idea: to reward terrorists with a state from which to conduct future genocidal adventures.
That same elite pretends international law owes a state to a group of people led by Hamas, whose sole raison d’être is the obliteration of another people’s right to statehood, while ignoring the history of post-First World War international treaties from the 1920s.
These dispersed the Ottoman Empire’s lands, leading over time to the creation of 22 Arab states and, eventually, just one Jewish state.
When Churchill unilaterally severed the 77 per cent of Palestine on the east bank of the river Jordan in 1921, creating Trans-Jordan for the Hashemite Abdullah, he promised that land to be for the self-determination of Palestine’s Arabs. Thus today’s Jordan should absorb displaced Palestinians (report, February 7).
President Trump is on the right trajectory.
Roslyn Pine
London N3
SIR – If countries like Spain, Ireland and South Africa are so convinced that the citizens of Gaza are the victims of an ongoing genocide, then surely they have a duty to offer the Gazans a safe refuge (report, February 7).
The UN considers all Palestinians and their descendants to be refugees in perpetuity. Hillel Neuer, a lawyer and executive director of the human rights NGO UN Watch, this week observed: “If 1.6 million Palestinians in Gaza are refugees, why is it wrong for Jordan and Egypt to welcome them? If you object that this would uproot them from their homes and land in Gaza, then why are they being called refugees?”
My grandfather arrived in the UK as a refugee from Russian oppression in Lithuania in the early years of the 20th-century. Am I still a refugee? Are my children and grandchildren?
Brian Gedalla
London N3
SIR – It is appalling that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) planned a national protest against Israel as Hamas’s October 7 massacre was still taking place, and before any military action was taken in Gaza (report, February 7).
This shocking revelation exposes the true nature of these demonstrations, which have paralysed London for many months.
The promotion of terrorist activities is a serious criminal offence under UK law. Those responsible for organising, endorsing and participating in such protests must be held accountable. Authorities cannot turn a blind eye while our streets are used to amplify extremist agendas, no doubt radicalising many people in the UK.
Action must be taken now to uphold the law and protect public order.
Eli Hacohen
London SW9