Did your correspondent B Goodwin, in his criticism of Mr Samson in last Tuesday’s Oxford Mail, (January 27), really infer that he was an armchair expert, who got his facts from books?

This must rank as one of the most pathetic attempts to try to belittle a factual letter. After all, if we cannot quote facts from books, then our entire education system, including the world-renowned Oxford University, would be rendered useless.

I assume Mr Samson was relating the 13 Israeli deaths in the recent Gaza conflict, to that of over 1,300 on the Palestinian side, as disproportionate.

Surely, anybody would agree with that last statement, unless of course you are a Zionist sympathiser who welcomes the ethnic cleansing of a nation.

He also states that, “there is enough land for everybody”, without the obvious conclusion that the Palestinians have no homeland and most of their land has been stolen.

In the Jordan Valley, (West Bank not Gaza), the Palestinians have less than 10 per cent of their own land left, due to illegal Israeli settlements.

Regarding the letter from J Kaye, also in Tuesday’s Mail, the correspondent feels it wrong to compare the Gaza conflict with the Warsaw Ghetto, of the Second World War.

How can it be inappropriate, when for 18 months you literally starve people of food, water and medicine, using crippling sanctions?

If you treat any group of people like rats, they will turn on you; it is human nature.

Quite how Hamas could even come close to destroying an Israel that illegally holds nuclear warheads, he could perhaps enlighten us.

He may be interested to know that Hamas would recognise Israel and normalise relations, if, in turn, it gave Palestine the state it seeks. (Arab Peace Plan 2002).

To get a lasting peace, whether you like it or not, you will have to talk with the democratically elected Hamas government. Examples of talking to “terrorists”, include the ANC in South Africa and the IRA in Northern Ireland.

You cannot bomb a population because it voted in the wrong government, can you?

The truth, is out there... but you may have to read a book.

TIM W SIRET, Evans Road, Eynsham