Yes, Gary T, you read me about right.

And, indeed, I did not and do not deny the right of Israel to exist. Actually, I would attribute a large part of the failure to establish peace in the Middle East to the the fact that the UK and US imposed partition on the Arabs without any attempt to compensate them for their loss, or guarantee their standing (where applicable) within the state of Israel. Not, of course, that the UK was on too good terms with Israel at that stage . . .

But I'm sorry, I've heard, over and again, Jews justify the unjustifiable, in their compatriots behaviour, by reference to the Holocaust. FACT! (By contrast, there is a minority of Jews who see the Holocaust as a particular reason why their nation's inhumanity towards - and denial of the humanity of - the Arabs should be intolerable. That's a couragous position.)

It seems to me that the vast majority of people, of all nations, count the human worth of their own nationals as being in some way greater than that of the remainder of humanity. They would rather a hundred of "the others" die than one of their "own". Carried to its extreme THAT valuation gives you the Holocaust; and the reason the Holocaust so stands out in the history of man's inhumanity to man is more to do with the mechanisms of destruction, and powers of control of any dissenting voices, available to the Nazis than to any unique genocidal intent. Most any nation with a couple of hundred years of history behind it has shown similar intent at some point. And, IMO, we seek to cast the Nazis as being somehow uniquely evil precisely to distance ourselves from that fact; to avoid having to acknowledge just how often race hatrid has been used to "justify" slaughter.

Race hatrid is, without doubt, a major force on both sides of the Middle East conflict . . It's in no way the perrogotive of the Israelis. However they are the governing force, with immense military and financial power, and their government enshrines race hatred in exactly the way the former white South African government did. At the end of the day they, and only they, have the power to end the slaughter and start working towards peace and security for all the inhabitants of that blood-stained region.

And an aside to Hedy West: you acuse Kendall of mouthing propaganda without issuing ANY contradiction of what he (she?) said - would you mind pointing out which part of Kendal's assertion you feel to be at variance with the facts? Or have you, yourself, become merely a conduit for another party's propaganda?

G.