NEWS that the upcoming Church of Scotland General Assembly will receive a report to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration is to be welcomed. This should prompt discussion on measures to halt the continued expansion of Israel (“Kirk to consider ‘economic leverage’ to constrain Israel”, The Herald, April 22). During a recent visit to East Jerusalem I heard a Palestinian leader involved in discussions with the Israelis concerning the two-state solution explain that it was difficult to negotiate a share of the pie while the other person was eating the pie.

Successive, fruitless peace processes have allowed Israel to stall for time as it seeks to complete the takeover of Palestinian land and the forced removal of its inhabitants through its continuing colonial policy of building and expanding settlements. The efforts of international bodies have proved ineffective in resisting Israel’s actions. A recent UN agency report identified the permanent crimes committed by Israel as “apartheid” and although the report was based on international law it was withdrawn under pressure from the Israeli and US governments. Action is now needed worldwide from all who are concerned. Churches, particularly in the United States, which have often spoken out against violations of human rights around the world realise that they can no longer respond timidly to the oppression of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel.

The Iona Community has a strong and longstanding commitment, through prayer, protest and the active engagement of many members, to seeking peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. In 2009 we were challenged along with Christians around the world by Palestinian Christians “to revisit theologies that justify crimes perpetrated against our people and the dispossession of the land”. The Iona Community has endorsed that urgent call.

We believe that a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians is only possible through ending the “settler colonial” project of the state of Israel and the establishment throughout historic Palestine of equal rights, irrespective of religious and ethnic background and identity.

We wholeheartedly support the use of economic measures to ensure that Israel abides by international law and United Nations resolutions by ending the military occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the siege of Gaza; abolishing all laws which discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel; and granting all Palestinian refugees the right to return.

We applaud the courageous non-violent resistance to the occupation practised by Palestinians and members of the Israeli peace movements who support them, and we repudiate entirely the use of violence wherever this is evident. We urge our members, and the churches to which we belong, to commit faithfully to this non-violent discipline in the hope, through persuasion and pressure, of bringing about a just and peaceful solution. We recognise that this may bring difficulties: in relations with some of our Jewish and Christian friends, and in the way we practise our faith in territory that is under Israeli rule. It may also result in false accusations, including unfounded claims of anti-Semitism, which are made against those who highlight this issue.

Rev Peter Macdonald,

Leader of the Iona Community, 21 Carlton Court, Glasgow

WITH reference to your background piece (“Church had historic role in creation of Jewish state”, The Herald, April 22), the quote from the Balfour Declaration, "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people", is accurate but incomplete.

As with so many articles, books, comments and, indeed, political actions as a result of Balfour, the vital latter section of the declaration is missing. I refer to "it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".

This section of the declaration has, over decades, been quietly put to the side, with the result that Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim, continue to be displaced, disenfranchised and downtrodden.

The Kirk is right to discuss this issue, especially since there is a depressing lack of action on the part of our politicians.

Mrs L Callander,

17 St Andrew's Crescent, Dumbarton.