FOR D Martin to say all Muslims are brought up to hate is nonsense (Letters, February 22). To understand the armed militancy of Muslims in the countries he quoted, one need look no further than the prime reason quoted by both the President of Iran and Abu Qatada, namely Palestine.

Mr Martin’s letter was published on the day I received an email from a Christian Palestinian farmer near Bethlehem.

He writes: “As we were working an orchard on our land we saw notices stuck up by the Israeli military, ordering us to stop working the land as it has been declared Israeli state land.”

The land in question has been in the family’s possession for centuries, as was confirmed during the British Mandate.

This Israeli action is a “mild” form of the daily harassment of Palestinians. British governments have made no attempt to protect Christian Palestinians, who have declined from 25 per cent of the population of the area under the British mandate to two per cent now. Yet they devote energy to condemning Muslim countries which seek to defend the rights and revenge the persecution of Muslim Palestinians by Israel and, by extension, its unquestioning supporters, particularly the US.

Maurice Vassie, Deighton, York.