IT is inevitable that contributors to Hear All Sides will comment on the dispute between Israel and Palestine. On both sides of the dispute are people who will argue vociferously for their point of view. In the end, there will be negotiation in good faith and agreement when the US becomes engaged genuinely as honest brokers. So far, it has favoured the Israeli side.

I do not attribute all the virtue to the Palestinians. I know there is a deep antagonism to Israel.

What also exists, but is rarely acknowledged, is that from the beginning the state of Israel has not wanted to accept a state of Palestine.

It is not true to say that Palestine never existed. It was under the British Mandate, and the agreement made with the Jews during the war against the Ottoman Empire was that they could make a homeland in Palestine, but it should not be to the detriment of the Palestinian people.

That could have happened shortly after the end of the Second World War.

Unfortunately, both sides took uncompromising positions.

Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.