Keep out of Middle East affairs and stick to what you know best

• In response to Tom Selwyn’s article Why you should visit the town of Bethlehem, (Forum, Jan 12), may I point out that the security fence built around Israel was constructed to stop suicide bombers entering Israel.
This security fence is in fact at least five miles from Bethlehem. One third of all Palestinian suicide bombers came from the Bethlehem area.
These suicide bombers have randomly killed more than 1,000 Israelis and wounded over 20,000.
Since the construction of the fence the number of deaths have fallen tenfold per year, and an atmosphere conducive to peace negotiations has been created.
Britain created a peace wall in Belfast to separate the two warring communities, and yet I have never read of any support group criticising the creation of this wall. Even the IRA agreed to abandon violence before meaningful peace negotiations could be held.
Unfortunately groups such as Hamas who won 40 per cent of the seats in the local elections do not even recognise the right of Israel to exist, yet alone agree to give up terrorism.
Fifteen years ago two thirds of the population of Bethlehem was Christian and one third Muslim. Today half the Christian population has left in response to the rise in militant Islam, so that the ratio of population has now been reversed. To say that Islam and Christianity co-exist in Bethlehem bears no resemblance to the facts that have been created on the ground.
You published a photograph of the defences around Rachel’s tomb and make no mention of the fact that Jacob’s tomb in Nabulus was destroyed by the Palestinians at the start of the Intifada as there were insufficient defences.
Tom Selwyn makes no mention of the fact that whenever Palestinians are in control of a religious tomb, they ban Jewish people from visiting them.
I suggest he visits the United States where on a recent visit my wife and I (along with many other visitors) had to remove shoes, top clothes, had our hand luggage thoroughly searched and we ourselves were frisked. We were fingerprinted and our irises were photographed.
American security is now far more vigorous and intrusive than Israeli security and yet I have not read one article of protest in any newspaper.
At the moment it is hoped that peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be resumed after they have both held their forthcoming General Elections.
Articles such as those by Tom Selwyn do not help to promote peace – rather the reverse.
David Stebbing
Fellows Road, NW3

• More than a year ago I wrote to your journal with the suggestion that you leave matters Middle Eastern to the national media, rather than aggravate your readers with endless light-weight journalism on this subject.
The CNJ, quite justifiably dedicated to many causes in the borough, seems, for reasons best known to its editorial board, to have decided to wade deep into the political mire of the Middle East.
This is to the almost complete exclusion of the very many more serious life-consuming situations elsewhere in the world. The January 12 issue alone carries at least three references to the Middle East labyrinth in the form of announcements, letters, and articles, all claiming to have a solution at hand.
The real question is, does the CNJ, now with considerable expertise on borough problems, fast becoming Camden’s very own Thursday Morning Star, really need to indulge itself in matters of foreign policy for which it is not designed, has little understanding and no staff?
Permit me once again to suggest that you concentrate on what you are good at and leave the rest to those with more relevant qualifications.
M L Lewis
Belsize Lane, NW3