I read a thread by a British Jew about (extra) police presence at his synagogue because an attack had been threatened by 'supporters of Palestine'. Sadly the writer kept putting Palestine in quote marks. Now it's true that the pro-Palestine movement in the West, especially now...

is full of anti-semites, conspiracy theorists, and for that matter Islamophobes who think Assad's a great guy. And brown or white anti-semites do nothing to help Palestinians, quite the opposite. Nevertheless, it is quite possible to support rights for the Palestinians, and to...

recognise Palestine's history and suffering, without being an ignorant, posing anti-semite. And the murderer of Jews in San Diego last night also claimed an attack on a mosque. Now more than ever Jews and Muslims need to work to understand and respect each other, even when...

we have differing or even irreconcilable differences on Israel-Palestine.

My own perspective has changed over the last decade. I still think the foundation of Israel was a historical mistake - though if I'd been a Jew in the 1940s I'd probably have supported it. (I also think Pakistan was a historical mistake, which doesn't mean I think Pakistan should

be merged into India today or that Pakistanis should be pushed into the sea). I still think there should be equal rights for all in Israel-Palestine and that the present apartheid-like dispensation is obscene. But I used to have an Arab nationalist perspective which saw Zionism..

as the root of all evil in the region, and as a foreign exception in the Middle East. I know see it as a totally normal part of the region. One ethnic group which sees itself for good historical reasons as the victim desperately oppressing another ethnic group - this is the story

of Syria, Lebanon and Iraq as well as as Israel-Palestine. And half of Israelis are Arabs not only lured by Zionism from their first homes but also driven out by Arab nationalism. We the people of the region - Sunnis, Shia, Kurds, Turks, Jews, Maronites, etc - are all suffering..

and we are all guilty. We have to sort it out together on the basis of human rather than communal rights. And the Western left with its ignorance and self-regard can't help us.