MR Pratt (LET, August 23) and Mr Chetwood (LET, August 26) need to read their history about Israel. The Jewish people have maintained ties to their historic homeland for more than 30 centuries.

Within this timescale they have been invaded or persecuted by amongst others, the Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans, Christians, Crusaders, Russians, Nazis and the Arabs.

In fact if not for foreign conquerors Israel would be 3,000 years old today.

To say that the Arabs gave Israel land is wrong. Many Arabs were more than willing to sell. In 1944, Jews paid over $1,000 per acre in Palestine for arid or semi-arid land. In the same year rich black soil in Iowa was selling for $110 per acre.

By 1947, Jewish holdings in Palestine amounted to 463,000 acres, 45,000 of these acres were acquired from the mandatory government, 30,000 from various churches and 387,500 were purchased from absentee Arab landlords.

Those who sold included mayors of Gaza, Jerusalem and Jaffa and As'ad el-Shuqueiri, father of PLO chairman Ahmed Shuqeiri.

Even King Abdullah leased land to the Jews and many members of the Muslim Supreme Council and leaders of the Arab Nationalist Movement sold.

LESLIE BAINES, Whitehall Road, Blackburn.