Stop false rhetoric 2

Julian Bradfield says that the intellectual Left holds Israelis to higher standards than Arabs (Letters, June 1), but it is this Orientalist attitude that gives licence to certain people to engage in extreme action, like the targeting of innocent civilians by suicide bombers, because of any perceived injustice.

It is also wrong to solely blame Israel for the oppression of the Palestinians. The Palestinians were offered a state in 1937, 1947 and 2000, and in each case their leadership chose rejection and horrific violence instead.

Richard Millett
School of Oriental and African Studies