From outside it does seem very much as if many Americans do seem to see what's going on in the Holy Land as analogous to what happened in the conquest and settlement of your own country.

Which is accurate enough. In terms of the injustice done to the native population, and of what is now called "ethnic cleansing", there are real analogies.

But all of us have things like that in our past. Probably all of us, if you go back far enough. They can't be undone retrospectively.

So it's right for people to feel "We've done things as bad as them and worse, and we are living on the proceeds", and recognisingh this should stop us pretending we have clean hands. But to jump from "We've done things like that" to "And therefore, it's all right for other people to do them" is a jump too far.

It's as if, when the British gave up slavery, this should have meant that they had no right or duty to try to stop the slave trade by ships from other countries. If anything the reverse is true - the country which had built up the slave trade had a special duty to try to stop it.

In the same way countries which have driven out native populations and settled their lands have had a major part to play in teaching others to do the same, and they have a particular responsibility for helping to bring an end to this shameful,period in human history.