Read history books if you want Middle East knowledge

Daniel Teegan’s brief account of the birth of Israel is, at best, blinkered, biased and incomplete.

The multitude of nuanced influences on the history of this region forms a picture too complex to be summarised in a couple of paragraphs.

The litany of broken promises, made over decades, to all parties and the belligerence and jingoism of the likes of Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, to cite but one example, created a culture of mistrust and duplicity that has deepened over time.

Anyone interested in the region should read history books and not allow their opinion to be shaped by letters like Mr Teegan’s (or mine, for that matter).

Ken Steele

Rathcormac

Co. Cork