• FURTHER to Ruth Tenne’s letter (Tel Aviv and its legacy, August 24) I would like to reply as follows.

When Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 it was built in an area consisting solely of sand dunes. Nine houses were erected and there was never a previous village on this site. You can Google this for photographic evidence.

Until 1918 the area was administered by the Ottoman Empire where Islam was the premier religion. Jews and Christians were second-class citizens. There is no way second class citizens could have displaced the Muslim inhabitants.

Regarding the diversity of Tel Aviv, Ms Tenne seems oblivious to the fact that same-sex relationships are illegal in the Fatah-administered part of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and punishable by death in the Hamas administrative territories in the Gaza strip.

In the entire Middle East Israel is the only country where the Christian population is increasing in size. For example, in Bethlehem Christians formed the majority of the population when administered by Israel, and now the number has fallen to 8 per cent.

There are perhaps only 40,000 Jews remaining outside of Israel in the Middle East, compared to 1948 when there were over one million. The Muslim population of Israel has increased since the establishment of the state of Israel from 200,000 to 1.25 million.

Israel is unfortunately the only country in the Middle East with a diverse population.

Despite the well-recorded hostility of the Hamas regime towards Israel, Israel is building a sewage pipe to manage the sewage from Gaza.

Regarding the condition of the children of Gaza, perhaps if Hamas were not so committed to the destruction of Israel where the regime spends the majority of aid it receives on weapons, tunneling, and other military installations, then the Gaza strip could be transformed to become as prosperous as the West Bank. There is no Israeli presence in the Gaza strip.

It is a shame the New Journal chooses to publish such a one-sided letter, thereby continuing to fuel the rise of anti-Semitism in the UK.

DAVID STEBBING
Fellows Road, NW3