Letter: Keep the peace process alive despite Hamas

Sir: As an active supporter for many years of the Palestinian people in their struggle for justice and self-determination, I was appalled by the horrific carnage wreaked in Israel over the past week by the suicide bombers of Hamas.

Despite my unreserved condemnation of violent acts such as these, however, I feel that it is not simply unfair but highly dangerous to respond by punishing all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the vast majority of whom are adamantly opposed to such tactics. Sealing off these territories causes dire economic hardship. The threat of renewed Israeli military activity inside Palestinian areas is also potentially devastating, not least for the peace process.

To target the entire Palestinian population is as unreasonable as punishing the Israeli people for the actions of the murderer Baruch Goldstein, who gunned down 30 Palestinians in cold blood in 1994. Rather than reactions of repression and antagonism, it is imperative that the peace process is advanced with increasing urgency. Only then will the extremists and the utterly deplorable acts of militants on both sides become marginalised.

Richard Burden MP

(Birmingham Northfield, Lab)

House of Commons

London SW1