Yet again I have returned from Palestine and Israel with a feeling of utter frustration at our failure as human beings to learn from our history and past mistakes. Two years ago I wrote in a regional newspaper that I had returned from the two largest open prisons in the world, Gaza and Bethlehem.

Because of the inability of people to flee - which is normal in a situation of war - we have seen the reality of that "prison" through the large number of people who have been killed in Gaza and the destruction that we have seen on our television screens.

I had again travelled to the Holy Land (9-15 January) with a group of Roman Catholic bishops from North America and Europe to support our brother bishops there and also the sisters and brothers of their communities. This was the ninth year that we have done this.

The possibility of our being a burden to our hosts, in a very difficult time while the war in Gaza was raging, had led us to discuss cancelling the trip. We were told that it was even more important than ever that we should come, and so it proved.

People were overwhelming in their welcome and thanks to us for making the journey. They needed to know that they had not been forgotten, that they were in our thoughts and prayers. That helped them to bear the frightful situations in which they found themselves.

On this trip, mainly to Bethlehem and the West Bank, we met many Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim. They were sad and deeply upset because they did not know what was happening to their friends, relations and colleagues in the Gaza strip.

What do you say to a middle-aged woman with her own family who tells you that her mother is in Gaza? They had had no contact for some days as the lack of electricity meant that people had not been able to recharge their mobile 'phones.

One man, maybe in his early 30's, who had had permission to travel to the West Bank for a Christmas visit to his own family broke down in tears and could not continue to talk to us, because he had left his three children and wife in Gaza, only expecting to be away for three days. He had, when we met, been away for almost three weeks.

I often feel that our leaders of any political persuasion do not realise what they are doing when they resort to violence. What are they going to say to the parents of a 14-year old girl who, we were told, by her parish priest in Gaza, had died of fright and fear when a large bomb exploded near her, even though she was physically unarmed? Do they ever meet these people or think about them as they send in armaments, weapons and troops?

Have we any right to go on treating human being in this way, in Gaza, in Iraq, in Darfur, in Afghanistan, and many other places where violence is used to try and stop disputes or to just gain power?

We are desperately in need of a fundamental change of attitude. Might is not right. Violence only begets violence as every person who is killed or injured has a mother and father, perhaps brothers and sisters, friends, colleagues. Most of us thankfully have a social network to support us.

The sorrow and the anger that injury and death causes breaks down these networks and leaves people angry and frustrated, and this all too easily leads to more violence.