The refugees from 1948 are still alive. That's the big difference. This isn't something that happened long ago, it happened within living memory.

Hitler murdered people by the million, and tried to wipe out whole populations. So did Genghis Khan. But we don't feel the same about the two. If we met a Mongolian who told us how he sees Genghis Khan as a great hero, we'd probably feel amused. If we met a German who said that about Hitler we definitely would not see it as funny. It makes a difference how long ago things happened - maybe that's not logical, but that's how we work.

The injustice that was done to the refugees of 1948, to the Palestinians refused permission to return to their homes after the war, and the Jews forced from their long established communities into exile in Israel is an injustice that happened recently, and it is the poison at the root of what has happened since.

Even so, I wasn't suggesting that it is possible to think about reversing the ethnic cleansing that was carried out. I was suggesting that it could be a small but significant step towards peace for the nations involved to publicly recognise the wrong that was done, and express deep regret that it had not happened, and that the exiles had not been exiled.

I suppose it is possible to hope that in some peace settlement that appears beyond hope at present, some old people might be allowed to come home to die - and that at some future time some kind of friendship between the two peoples might come about. When that happens people will look back on partition and occupation and war, and wonder how their ancestors could have been so crazy. Like looking back on the Civil War in America, and the earlier ones in England.