A reader has sent me the following account of a recent visit to the Middle East. It is a perspective almost unknown within the councils of the Church of England (see post below) because it is true:

'I recently visited Israel and the West Bank to see for myself what is going on there - as much as I could. I met numerous Israelis and Palestinians, and talked in great depth to them. My visit to the West Bank only went to confirm many of the things that you write about in your columns. It is a heartbreaking situation. What I heard confirms the view that many Palestinians are truly not working for peace, but for the ultimate demise of Israel. They harbour not humanitarian concern towards the people of Israel, but a bitter sense of grievance and vengeance in their hearts. 'I was bombarded with stories of the Palestinian suffering at the hands of the Israelis. I was careful to offer no viewpoint myself as I just wanted to listen - and what I heard I knew to be often a distortion of the truth. Had I been a European journalist, I would have returned to write of the anguish of the Palestinians and the dreadful wrongs done to them by Israel. It is only because of my contacts with Israelis of all political views that I was able to balance what I heard on the West Bank. 'On one occasion there was an Israeli in our group visiting the West Bank. She told someone that she was Israeli, much to the dismay of our Palestinian guide, who said that her life was now at risk (the militant groups are beyond any control - even of the Palestinian Authority Police). 'What we read in the UK press is a distortion of the situation in the Middle East. Israelis and Palestinians are unfortunate pawns in the political manoevering of larger interest groups worldwide. Now that I have had such close experience of the situation, I am at a loss to understand the posturing of so many in the UK when it comes to offering views on a place they've never even visited. 'I also visited checkpoints and spoke closely with Israeli soldiers about their daily life there. Far from choosing to humiliate Palestinians, they walk the incredibly hard line between protecting themselves and their country from murder, and offering compassion to those with whom they deal. One friend, a soldier, told me only on Monday how they had found bottles containing bombs in two boys' bags coming through the checkpoint. On questioning, the boys said they had been intending to throw the bombs into the army truck which would later come, full of soldiers, to relieve the checkpoint shift. He told me how it feels to be threatened constantly, and constantly afraid, and yet to hold back, not to vent one's natural anger at this. 'Of course we can feel compassion for the suffering of the Palestinians (and they are suffering: for many of them, daily life is hellish) - but this should never mean we misdirect blame for their situation, nor should it mean we act to harm Israel in any way.'