In reply to Tony Greenstein (Letters, August 6), the Jews have been seeking a return to their biblical homeland from the time of their conquest and various exiles thousands of years ago.

Fleeing near-total annihilation in Europe, the culmination of 2,000 years of Christian hatred and persecution, the holocaust remnants struggled to build a home in their ancient land.

They withstood instant attack by five Arab armies, drained the malaria swamps and built cities out of sand.

This was not a "land occupied by another people", as claimed by Mr Greenstein, but land continuously occupied by Jews for 3,300 years, massively documented and with architectural, historical and cultural evidence.

Mr Greenstein accused the Jewish state of "expelling the indigenous population", yet Israel lived perfectly happily with an Arab population of about 1.2million until Yasser Arafat withdrew from the Oslo peace talks and stirred up a futile war to destroy the Jewish state. It is that which has proved catastrophic for all sides.

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