Vincent Fean's article helps me to see a way forward for Britain (We can restore hope in a just peace for Palestine and Israel, The World, April 19).
Having facilitated the origin of the Arab-Israeli conflict with our contradictory promises during and after the First World War, we have been quite unable to facilitate peace.
Palestine was in the area promised by Britain to Arabs in 1915 then Jews in 1917. While a homeland for the Jewish people has been achieved, the promise to protect the rights of the Palestinian people has not yet been fulfilled.
The vision of a democratic independent state in Palestine where human, political and religious freedoms prevail is captured in the "sacred trust" for Palestine accepted by Britain in 1920 in the (League of Nations) Mandate for Palestine. This is unfinished business.
Scotland played a significant role in those contradictory promises. There were more Scots than English in the cabinet that approved the Balfour Declaration. Scotland must make its voice heard in Westminster and throughout Europe to press for the completion of that unfinished business. Recognising a Palestinian state would be a start.
Roger Spooner,
Edinburgh
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