The letters from Michael Ryan (19 January) and Gareth Smith (5 January) have the usual unbalanced and emotion-based statements.
Michael Burd in his letter (12 January) shows a balanced letter stating that there are always two sides to an argument, and both sides need to be heard.
Israel as a country has every right to be there and has the exact same religion, currency, and language that it had from biblical times before the Romans invaded and renamed the wider region Palestine.
Palestine was a region of Jews and non-Jews and never in history a country, just as you can never say the Middle East was ever one single country.
Israel is but a small percentage of the land mass that was Palestine, and Arab countries already make up the balance.
If you are so sure that ‘Palestine’ the country goes back through history, I expect you to be able to answer a few basic questions:
When was it founded and by whom? What were its borders? What was its capital? What were its major cities? What constituted the basis of its economy? What was its form of government?
Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat? Was Palestine ever recognised by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation? What was the language of the country of Palestine? What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine? What was the name of its currency? Why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their defeat in the Six Day War?
The modern-day Palestinians DO exist and are not going anywhere. Israel exists and is not going anywhere. Both peoples have suffered, and this must end.
Palestinian civilians deserve a far better life and if their leaders accepted one of several genuine peace agreements with Israel, and gave up their dream of destroying Israel completely, there would be peace.
Palestinian leaders are literally billionaires as year after year they divert billions of dollars in international aid into their personal bank accounts leaving the people in squalor. They do not want this gravy train to end and this is their personal priority. Hamas and the PA need to be replaced immediately by decent leaders who serve the Palestinian people but, when they protest, they are literally murdered or imprisoned by Hamas and PA thugs and live in fear, so they need our support.
I am and have always been pro-Palestine, pro-Israel, and pro-peace and always listen to both sides.
Over the past years of letters to The Echo, by white privileged males, what have we gained?
Friends, don’t take any of these letters at face value. Do your own research through factual sources and learn the truth. Let’s move towards peace together.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
