Dear Sir,

I must protest at the article by Thomas Friedman entitled 'Campus Hypocrisy'. I hesitate to describe it as hypocritical but it is close. He claims "Your campaign for divestiture from Israel is deeply dishonest and hypocritical".

To many of us, the blame for the problems in the Middle East lies overwhelmingly with Israel, with Israel's failure to abide by International Law, over refugees for more than fifty years,over occupation and settlements for over thirty five years, and over shameful breaches of the Geneva Conventions since the beginning.

The Barak offer was not close to the rights of the Palestinians under international law and to pretend otherwise is hypocritical. The current Intifada was directky related to Sharon's inappropriate visit to the Al Aqsa Mosque. It had nothing to do with Camp David. To claim otherwise is hypocritical.

The campaign for divestment is sincere and long overdue. Pressure has to be put on Israel to comply with international law. US could apply that pressure but lacks enough belief in justice and in the humanity of the Palestinians to do so.

Yours faithfully,

Christopher Leadbeater