Letters: Israel's contempt for human life

Your article about Tristan Anderson (24 March) brought back strong memories of when my son Tom Hurndall was shot in Gaza in 2003. My heart goes out to Tristan Anderson's parents, for I remember clearly how it was in the days after Tom was shot by an Israeli sniper in Rafah while rescuing Palestinian children.

Like us, his mother and father will be utterly devastated, numb and overcome by disbelief. As Americans, they will be reaching out for the support of their government and, maybe, stunned by the same astonishing level of Israeli obfuscation and cover-up that we experienced. I have come to recognise this feeling when reading the accounts of recent Israeli atrocities and civilian deaths during the incursion into Gaza.

Contrary to my own family's experience when we called for and received the support of numerous parliamentarians in the UK, Tristan's parents may have a hard time harnessing the energies of their government and insisting the Israeli government investigates properly, investigations that should never be done in-house. I recall with sadness how difficult it was for Rachel Corrie's parents, Americans, to get truth and justice for their daughter, being given no government support after she was run over by an Israeli army bulldozer.

We've had little indication of how the new American government will respond to Israel's incursion into Gaza, the stance they will take over the scores of civilian killings and iniquitously loose rules of engagement that killed Tom and so many others that were followed by inept investigations. A state's response to the shooting of a young man who was demonstrating peacefully is a litmus test of the quality of inclusive justice we have a right to expect across the world. In accordance with international law, the policy-makers, the chain of command and the soldiers, all must be called to account.

For the sake of Tristan and his parents, I hope President Barack Obama's administration uses this opportunity to speak out against the Israeli policies, indeed any state's policies, that show such contempt for human life.

Jocelyn Hurndall

Friends of Birzeit University, London EC4

Who are the real extremists?

I applaud you for highlighting the salient fact that the vast majority of British Muslims have made enormous contributions to the prosperity and success of this great nation (leading article, 25 March).

However, isn't it pitiful that the government is still looking for ways to extinguish the flames of so-called Muslim extremism? Who are the extremists: the politicians who dragged this country to an illegal and immoral war against Iraq that has resulted in the deaths of countless innocents, those who supported Israel in its ferocious attacks against defenceless Palestinians, or Muslims who were asked again and again to remain mute while bearing the huge brunt of death and loss?

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London SW5

You rightly claim that the Government is correct to take on the unrepresentative minority. But no government can fight the minority alone; the majority must also play its role.

The British Sikhs faced a similar situation in the late 1980s when, in the wake of military assault on the Golden Temple of Amritsar, Britain became a hub of terrorist activities directed against India. But the moderates among the Sikh community did not allow their extremist counterparts to go unchallenged; they were confronted at every level, ranging from public meetings to Sikh temple congregations. By the middle of the 1990s, the Sikh extremists in Britain were decisively marginalised.

If moderate Muslims are really committed to fighting extremism, they ought to do what the Sikhs did: confront the extremists among them at every level, possibly without any state support. Why bother about state funding if you genuinely believe in your cause?

Randhir Singh Bains

Gants Hill, Essex

Your leading article claimed that the Muslim Council of Britain had "doubtful authority" and was not representative of British Muslims. The Muslim Council of Britain is the largest and most diverse UK Muslim umbrella body in existence with about 500 affiliated organisations throughout the country.

Our affiliates came together because they wanted to seek the common good and to highlight the lives of productive Muslims who reject extremism and abhor the use of their faith to justify terrorism.

Our track record against terrorism far pre-dates 9/11. We have never received or sought public money in this regard, as we feel that this is a default duty of any Muslim.

As Muslims, it is our duty to seek and support the truth and to that end we will continue to ask for causes of violent extremism to be identified and addressed with honesty. We will not support initiatives that are motivated by media pressure or corrupt thinking. We will not be bullied into submission. We will remain committed to speak for truth and justice.

Our faith demands us to seek common cause with all Britons, and the government of the day, for the good of society.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari

Secretary-General, The Muslim Council of Britain

London E1

G20 protests won't have my support

Lord Malloch-Brown and Labour MP Frank Field are wrong to suggest that G20 protesters will have the general support of the public or that there will be riots or further financial meltdown if the Government does not come up with a comprehensive plan to save us.

Some of us still believe in free markets, and believe that it was government regulation and deep involvement in the economy which caused the financial crisis.

As in the Great Depression, government intervention and foot-dragging about whether or not it will institute said measures are the fuel behind the increasing uncertainty in the markets. However, in the words of Ayn Rand, government need do only one thing in this or any financial crisis: "Get out of our way".

Let the bad banks and businesses fail; remove regulations which protect and even encourage ill moves by banks; and let the good, profitable, productive members of society prevail.

Rory Hodgson

London SE20

Colin Burke (letters, 23 March) suggests that if the G20 protesters want to "bring London to a standstill" they should pray for a centimetre of snow. Failing that level of divine intervention, they could always just campaign to get the congestion charge abolished.

John Shepherd

Cockermouth, Cumbria

The globalisation policies of the EU and the G20 were the main cause of the "credit crunch" in the world banking system. Their proposed April meeting in London should be cancelled to stop them damaging the world economy any further. The working-class people of Britain should use peaceful protest to prevent the EU and the G20 doing any more damage to the world economy by further globalisation.

Steve Halden

Swindon

'Dirty bomb' scare tactics

What is the purpose of publishing a non-story regarding Jacqui Smith and her department's view that there "could be" an increased threat to the UK from terrorists (report, 24 March)?

There is clearly a benefit to the government of keeping the public frightened, to enable ministers to deploy yet more invasive technologies and laws. Notably, use of the term "dirty bomb" is certain to generate more fear than such a device would warrant, given that casualties from one would likely result more from mass panic than from any direct physical consequences of the relatively small amount of radioactive material it would contain.

With nothing beyond a report stating that the detonation of a dirty bomb is "more realistic than it may have been in the recent past", I fail to see how this constitutes news. Need there be a report every time the threat "may" have changed? Even if it lessens?

Chris Lockie

London N3

Arrogance in our Moscow embassy

Dr Jan Culik's letter (20 March) will ring bells with the many who have similarly suffered from arrogant and incompetent decisions by the visa-issuing authorities at our Moscow embassy.

Last year, after refusals to two of our nieces, blood-relatives of my wife, on spurious grounds, the authorities finally relented after a personal letter from me to the then-ambassador and the involvement of lawyers in London. Visas were issued for one month (not the normal six), which surprised those checking documents as they boarded their flight in Moscow and the passport-controller at Heathrow.

The day the nieces arrived, I had a letter from UK Visas in the Foreign Office, in March 2008, saying my complaint about my family's treatment would be investigated and I would be informed of the outcome. I am still waiting.

Professor George Hewitt FBA

Doncaster

I was sorry to read the letter from Dr Jan Culik, expressing disappointment at the service from the UK Border Agency (UKBA) at the British embassy in Moscow. UKBA staff in Russia dealt with over 140,000 visa applications during 2008, and approximately 94 per cent were issued. The large numbers of applicants mean there is always pressure to strike a balance between first-rate customer service, and maintaining the integrity of the UK's immigration control, which is what the UK public expects.

Staff is limited, and time spent answering phone calls means time spent away from dealing with applications. UK Data Protection legislation also means we can't discuss someone's application with a third party, without their written consent. This is why we encourage customers to visit our website ( www.ukvac-ru.com) so they can see how to make a visa application and encourage contact by email, rather than by phone.

Our surveys show high customer satisfaction. But we are not complacent, and we are continually looking at how we can make the visa process more effective.

Ambassador Anne Pringle

British Embassy, Moscow

Integrity has gone in public service

While the rest of the country struggles to get by, MPs are making hay (report, 23 March). By first making up the rules of their salary contracts and peppering them with "wriggle clauses", they thus escape the penalties and full opprobrium of the public. Where has integrity gone in public service?

Peter Day

Doncaster

Briefly...

The price is right

Forty million pounds to scrap the national ID-card scheme is cheap at the price (report, 24 March). With the government's appalling track record on IT project implementation it will almost certainly turn out to be the UK's most costly failed enterprise to date.

Belinda Theis

London W1

Detained for lunch

A nanny-state edict which would be entirely justified and laudable would be to require schools to keep all children below the statutory leaving age on-site at midday, for reasons of the children's health and safety. Such a policy would reduce road accidents, shop-lifting and litter and would result in increased numbers taking the school meal. The only losers would be the high-street purveyors of junk food. Few schools have a boundary that is so permeable that they could not keep the children in.

Colin Yardley

Chislehurst, Kent

Dead right

Iain Duncan-Smith now says the Thatcherite "right to buy" policy failed to anticipate its longer-term results (report, 23 March). Was that because its short-term focus was on curbing the power of the unions by ensuring their members stayed at work to pay their mortgages? Maybe those then in power knew that the French origin of the word mortgage is "pledge of death".

Canon Christopher Hall

Banbury, Oxfordshire

Offensive rule

The rejection of the World Anti Doping Agency's (Wada) new "whereabouts" rule by the world and European football authorities is to be welcomed. For sports persons to provide the doping authorities with their whereabouts for one hour a day 365 days a year is clearly a breach of their human right of privacy. Of course, doping should be stamped out of sport, but not in such a draconian way. Wada should go back to the drawing board and think again.

Ian Blackshaw

The International Sports Law Centre,

The Hague, The Netherlands

BBC database private

TV Licensing's database is owned by the BBC, not the Government ("The big question", 24 March). The information on the database is confidential, and used solely for TV Licensing purposes.

Ian Fannon

TV Licensing, London WC2