“a) we have had a foreign affairs spokesman and subsequent leader who never lost an opportunity to criticize Israel,
b) the Party newspaper’s coverage of foreign affairs, such as it is, has chiefly consisted of anti –Israel articles
c) The debate on this issue at last years conference was for the most part an anti Israel rant session and the contributions of most of our parliamentarians were on those lines.”

Perhaps Mr Allen would care to justify the above.

And a question for Mr Allen. What do you think of the Ford Motor Company and the Bush Family bankrolling the Nazi regime right up until Pearl Harbour?

This does, however, place a huge burden on the unfeasibly rare commodity of imaginitive leadership, which, as irony would have it, is only truly valued once it has gone.

Anyway, all conflicts are the same conflict played out in their infinite variety, so maybe we should start by learning some hard old lessons instead of selectively preaching prescriptions.

Mr Allen, you are a vile bully. Clear off back to New York and take your poison with you.

Talk of conspiracy theories? When Ming Campbell spoke about foreign policy he only ever criticised Israel? Not even David Icke gets it THAT wrong! Have a look at Hansard, Mr Allen.

Of course all this this may be a complete misunderstanding on my part, I am not an expert…

Not a sentence one hears very often, but it’s very nice when it happens!

However, this is not like the kind of conflict between Liverpool and Everton. That implies equity.

That’s true. I was thinking more in terms of an ongoing and bitter struggle, fundamentally for no good reason at all.

If you move into my house, take over my kitchen, bathroom and living room and confine me to the back bedroom . . .

Now there’s an offer I can’t refuse!

To pretend this is an equitable situation is to miss the point and to condemn both sides to further bloodshed and despair.

As ever, Linda, you are absolutely right! The solution to a conflict does not necessarily lie half way down the middle, and that is certainly not the case here. Friends of Israel (in the abstract) never tire of pointing out that Israel is the only modern democratic state in the region, without apparently appreciating the responsibility that goes with that status. Time and again, Israel acts in a mindless retaliatory manner which in no way elevates itself above its neighbours. The bombing of Lebanon was simply appalling, and any true “friend of Israel” would have told them to desist instantly.

So AIPAC doesn’t exist?

Accusing people who refuse to deny facts of “anti-Semitism” is nothing more than a devious means of shutting down the debate.

As for “financial grips”, Julian H might like to ask himself why it is that Switzerland caved in to the demands of Jewish elites to hand over money held in bank accounts unclaimed by families of Holocaust victims? Well, I will tell him. The State of New York threatened to disinvest in those banks.

Incidentally, Jewish elites have never called for US banks to disgorge similar funds. Nor have they even asked the Ford Motor Company or the Bush family to apologise for their role in bankrolling the Nazi war machine. It is a fundamental rule of modern Zionist ideology never to say anything even vaguely rude about the United States.

And what does Julian H make of Larry Silverstein, arch-Zionist and friend of Binyamin Netanyahu, sitting back and allowing Al-Qaeda to kill Jews? Clearly the $3 billion inurance money he has collected is worth more than the 400 odd Jewish lives lost in those Towers.

As long as faith continues to dominate Middle Eastern politics, Jerusalem will remain far too potent a symbol to be exclusively controlled by any one of the 3 world religions (or their secular surrogates) who have an interest in it.

Perhaps our Lib Dem “Friends of..” factions could lead the way by merging into a “Friends of Middle East Peace” group, or similar? If our own respective protagonists can’t find common ground, what hope is there for the real ones?

Not Tony Blair’s finest hour, and that’s saying something.

I’m not sure who is ever going to be capable of untangling the tragedy now unfolding in the Middle East, but somehow I doubt it will be Liberal Democrats. We need to re-focus our attention upon Haggis and patio-heaters.

I hope the Friends of Israel and Friends of Palestine can work together to promote the interests of the individuals in the region and that this doesn’t descend into the ugly mess of accusations and counter-accusations that typify much debate over the Holy Land.