To The Sunday Herald: Who are the war criminals?

By A Soudry.

Published in:  The Sunday Herald - Jan 10, 2010.

Who are the war criminals?

Hugh Humphries suggests Israel cannot be absolved of responsibility for "acting in a legal, civilised, humane manner towards the Palestinian people" (Letters, December 27). He must now be aware that Israel did exactly that, and if he calls it "war crimes", then the allies in Iraq and Afghanistan are guilty of the same, especially when these two countries pose no existential threat to the West, unlike Hamas vis-a-vis Jerusalem. Furthermore, all allied politicians and generals should stand trial for war crimes and be arrested wherever they fly to. The same must apply to Yemeni officials. In contrast, we have now sadly come to terms with the Sudanese leaders escaping this scenario. What about the Palestinians' responsibility for acting in a legal, civilised, humane manner towards the Israeli people?

If Mr Humphries and the Palestinian Authority supporters are sincere about a durable Middle East peace, they should campaign for the abrogation of all Palestinian charters still calling for the extinction of Israel. Furthermore, they should demonstrate in George Square against Cairo's blockade of the Strip, and the very deep steel Egyptian apartheid wall with Gaza, intended to block Hamas's tunnels, a wall very warmly welcomed by the anti-Hamas West Bank leader Abu Mazan, who at the same time is shamelessly rallying as many countries as he can to condemn Israel for its security barrier. How's that for double standards?

 A Soudry

Glasgow