Sir — It is a fact and a bleak reality that young people are often taken to hideous camps in order to further the interests of those in charge of them. For example, when chatting to a group of Israeli teenagers outside the Jewish Block in Auschwitz, I discovered that a tour of the former death camps in Poland was a regular trip for school leavers, prior to their obligatory stint in the Israeli army.

Although I know nothing about the Palestinian trip referred to by Joe Boyle (Letters, September 12), I’m sure he will agree that those who care for these vulnerable youngsters need to consider, very carefully, their own agenda — perhaps in one of the many dialogue groups we are fortunate to have here in Oxford.

Tanya Joyce, Headington