Letter: Israelis speak

In the interests of accuracy, may I point out to Ivor Morgan (Letters, 23 August) that there were at least two (Jewish) Israelis speaking at the Book Festival on 18 August: Gideon Levy and Ilan Pappé?

I braved four events that day on the Israel/Palestine conflict, and admittedly only one speaker, a Hungarian writer, spoke up for the Israelis. However, this is hardly surprising when Israelis have most of the power, wealth and weaponry (and water), and Palestinians are cooped up in Gaza and in an ever decreasing area of the West Bank.

Gideon Levy writes about "the brutality of Israel's occupation of Palestine", an occupation which most Israelis do not even recognise as such. The Israeli and the Palestinian speakers all described in various ways the process over six decades of "dehumanising" Palestinians.

I am no antisemite, but I deplore injustice. Of course both sides will have to start talking to each other, but in reality they are allowed practically no contact.

I suggest that he reads Palestinian Walks by the admirable Palestinian lawyer from Ramallah, Raja Shehadeh. It does much to put the politics of hatred between Israel and Hamas into perspective.

Caroline Wilkinson

Park Crescent

Edinburgh