Is there no end to Mr. Marcus Gee's continuing manufactured justifications for Israel's brutality towards the Palestinian people under illegal occupation? This brutality stands in defiance of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention. I know I would not be allowed the space to respond to his lengthy diatribe, but I will deal with some of his points.

The Palestinians, in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza are under illegal occupation and have a legitimate right to resist the occupation. No Oslo agreement can deprive them of this right. Furthermore, Israel has continuously violated this agreement, continuing to expropriate territory and create illegal settlements, as well as refusing to comply with the various interim agreements. The withdrawal from "most Palestinian towns", that he speaks of, is laughable if it was not so ridiculous. The veracity of this withdrawal is evident from the siege and armed concentration camps that the Palestinians are living under now. He states that Sharon's marching on Al-Haram Al-Sharif with a thousand troops, claiming sovereignty over this sacred Islamic site, is legal and not a blatant provocation.

Mr. Gee says "Israel cannot simply pull out of the occupied territories". Pray, why not? These territories are under illegal occupation which has been allowed to stand in defiance of international law and repeated Security Council resolutions. I do not recall the US and its allies allowing Iraq to negotiate its withdrawal from illegally occupied Kuwaiti territory. Twenty two million Iraqis are still being subjected to genocidal sanctions because it is claimed that its government is not in full compliance of one Security Council resolution. Or have I forgotten that Israel is above international law?