Just been reading Jeremy Bowen's report on the BBC New site re Palestine. It prompted me to put a comment in as it just flags up the injustice that many people in the world today have to put up with. I pushed the following as a 'Have your say' message, and am copying it here mainly for my own reference. 50e18d8f-b60b-46f5-bcf7-c3220dc24a51

"The one thing that I am seeing in all of the conflicts is the idea that the aggressor is only protecting themselves. Designating groups like Hamas as 'terrorists' to justify that is simply not helping anybody. The Palestinians have just as much right to exist as the Israelis in fact more so, but who was protecting that right prior to groups like Hamas? While Israel refuses to accept that the Palestinians DO have rights then there is no equality between these peoples. Yes what Hamas did back in 2023 was not acceptable, but just what other options were on the table? The whole mess has been handled badly since the start and the idea that the Israelis had some 'right' to return to Israel was perhaps totally misplaced. It is Palestine that has been destroyed completely when there SHOULD be land that the Palestinians can live in and thrive and replace what was taken from them by the Israelis. Just how much land in Israel legally belongs to it's original owners prior to Israel's kicking them out of it!"

Just who does the land belong to? Russia has 'taken control' of vast swathes of Ukraine so will it's original owners be compensated? The idea that we need to spend 'much more on defence' is also putting the emphasis in the wrong place. We should be looking to defuse conflict not waste billions of xxx on inflaming the situation. Just what could have been done with all of the resources that have been pumped in to 'defending Ukraine'. Jeremy's report is targeting the 'rules of war', but even those have little going for them when the major aggressors do not accept they even exist. The even the likes of the United States can propose taking over other sovereign states in the name of 'defending itself' just adds insult to injury. Both China and Russia have the same justification for their own expansion plans.

Expanding the UK armed forces is a necessary step, but using 'defending the country' as a justification is not the right reason. Pumping billions of pounds into nuclear submarines is just as bad a waste as the money pumped into HS2. The real target should be to de-escalate conflict in the world and that is not helped by stripping overseas aid to pay for defence. We should be targeting helping keep illegal migrants in their home countries by improving their living standards there rather then the current American tactic of shutting up shop and milking the rest of the world for it's own ends.

EVERYBODY has an equal right to exist in the world today. NOBODY has any right on what ever spurious grounds to kill another, and NOBODY has even a 'democratic' justification to dictate to others what they will do. Cooperation, and sharing equally what we have should be the order of the day and the basis of any decisions ...