• I WAS somewhat surprised to see such a blizzard of letters to the September 6 New Journal on the question of Israel and Palestine. It hard not to conclude that Momentum – as a party – has decided to blitz the paper with letters on this subject.

Nothing wrong with this in itself: as CNJ readers will know from the Letters pages, I have also been critical of Israel in the past. What is odd is that Momentum’s concerns are so narrow. Why is their sympathy only extended to the Palestinians? Where are Momentum letters on the plight of the people of South Sudan, for example?

Since the country’s independence in 2011 its people have endured the most appalling suffering. As Amnesty International points out, more than 3.9 million people, approximately one-third of the population, have been displaced since December 2013; 1.9 million of them were internally displaced, including over 200,000 who lived on UN bases. An estimated 4.8 million people, almost half of the population, are suffering from an intense scarcity of food. Some are close to starvation.

Nor are they alone. Consider the people of Kashmir. Since 1948 they have been promised a free and fair plebiscite on their future by the UN, yet none is forthcoming. They live under a military regime, with constant clashes with the Indian army.

Or the 700,000 Rohingya who have been driven from their homes in Myanmar, now living in camps in Bangladesh. There are conflicts, crises and hardship in countries from Tibet to Venezuela, from Syria to Zimbabwe, yet Momentum sees the world’s suffering through the lens of just one conflict: Israel and Palestine. I wonder why.

MARTIN PLAUT
Ryland Road, NW5