Sir, If it were not true it would be impossible to believe. A British prime minister vigorously encouraged the support of a democratically elected government in an Arab country, Iraq. Then, a few days later, he did his utmost to undermine the elected government of another, saying that “nobody should have a veto on progress”.

The Palestinian people voted overwhelmingly, and democratically, for a government of their choice and have been subjected to collective punishment by America, Israel and the West ever since. Mr Blair is right to conclude that the key to peace in the Middle East lies within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but his grotesque double standards will simply harden Palestinian resolve and worsen the dispute.

DENIS JACKSON
Cowes, Isle of Wight

Sir, The Prime Minister appears to think that he has the right to participate in deciding the future of various Middle Eastern countries a long way away from his proper concern. What is his mandate for this, I wonder? How would he react if the political leaders of these countries decided to make a tour of the United Kingdom in order to sort out our own very real problems for us?

DAVID GAHAN
Gozo, Malta

Sir, Tony Blair has regrettably missed an opportunity to play a pivotal role in helping Israelis and Palestinians to achieve the future they all deserve. Hamas is a legitimate resistance organisation. Supporting Abbas’s chaotic and corrupt authority against the democratic will of the Palestinian people is a recipe for civil war. It is time for Europe to counterbalance the increasing ineffectiveness of US diplomacy and act through international institutions such as the United Nations to bring a lasting peace to the region.

MUNJED FARID AL QUTOB
London NW2

Sir, Your photograph of Dec 19 shows the Prime Minister wearing a skullcap.

Did it not occur to him to pose for the world’s media wearing local headdress on his recent visit to Arab countries?

BRIAN P. MOSS
Tamworth, Staffs

Sir, We should apportion blame for the growing divide between Europe and the US to the French and German governments’ hostility towards America over Iraq. This approach greatly assisted the hawks within the Bush Administration and simultaneously shattered the Blair Government’s hitherto pro-European foreign policy.

Contrary to the popular fallacy regurgitated by certain think-tanks, Tony Blair supported military action not from a position of deference, but from the conviction that the United Nations should no longer tolerate Saddam’s repeated defiance of its resolutions.

Mr Blair should be congratulated, not condemned, for courageously defying a large section of his own party and for steadfastly backing the United Kingdom’s most reliable friend.

PHILIP DULY
Haslemere, Surrey

Sir, Speaking in Dubai, the Prime Minister condemned Iran’s alleged threat to democracy in the region and proposed an alliance of moderate Arab states to counter Iranian influence.

In August 1953 a coup backed by the CIA and MI6 toppled the elected Mossadegh Government, so killing Iranian democracy to bring back the deposed Shah. Remembering this history, it is ironic that Blair, refusing to talk to the democratically elected Hamas and Hezbollah parliamentarians, is now calling on despotic Arab monarchies such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and Arab dictatorships such as Egypt, to unite in defence of democracy.

GEOFF SIMONS
Stockport, Cheshire

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