DAVID Lacey (HAS, April 4) attributes the Likud Party’s success in the Israeli general election to the activities of Hamas and Hezbollah. This is a perverse analysis.

One reason why the ferocious attack on Gaza was launched during the run-up to the election was that the ruling Kadima party needed to improve its electoral fortunes by appearing tougher on the Palestinians.

A Jewish Israeli woman, addressing a protest meeting in Durham during the massacre, put it this way: “Right now, Palestinian women and children are being murdered for Israeli votes.”

The strategy worked to some extent – Kadima’s standing in the opinion polls improved, and they gained one more seat than Likud, but could not form a coalition.

It was the Israeli government, backed by the US and the EU, which closed the door on the peace process. It demanded what the UN described as “unachievable” preconditions for negotiations with the Hamas government, pursuing instead a “divide and rule” strategy, imposing punitive economic sanctions, arming Fatah factions against Hamas, and kidnapping half the Hamas cabinet.

Meanwhile, the expulsion of Palestinians from their land and homes, and the expansion of the illegal West Bank Jewish settlements, continues relentlessly.

Pete Winstanley, Durham.