The Balfour declaration is a stain on human consciousness

Readers discuss Palestine and etiquette

Palestinians continue to bear the brunt of the Balfour declaration a century later. AFP

I refer to your article, How Britain betrayed Palestinians a century ago (October 29). It was not just a "heartbreak for the Palestinians", but also for most Arabs and Muslims and, indeed, for humanity. And with no just solution to the root of the problem, which is occupation, the misery will continue, unfortunately. Palestinians continue to be under severe pressure to keep quiet and just accept reality. As such, they have become divided between those who have not given up and those who have. Those who have given up the struggle are used by outsiders to put pressure on those who continue to resist, so the pressure has become internal. Even if Palestinians forget the root cause of their misery, many Muslims in the region won't forget. Meanwhile, you hear people hailing "Lawrence of Arabia". And for what? For fooling Arabs? We continue to be fooled until this day, and in broad daylight, at that.

Rami Eljundi, Abu Dhabi

While the Balfour declaration paved the way for the creation of a homeland for Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis (albeit on Palestinian land), it also paved the way for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the slow and systematic dehumanisation of the indigenous people who continue to be victims of the longest and ugliest occupation in modern history. There is nothing to celebrate here. It is time to apologise to the Palestinians, dismantle all illegal settlements and compensate all Palestinian victims.

Wadad de Marco, Abu Dhabi

Chrissi Hynde's behaviour was unacceptable, but so was her fans'

I was shocked to read the story Shocked fans react to Chrissie Hynde's expletive-fuelled onstage rant in Dubai (Oct 29). What part of "no mobile phones, please" do people not understand? Or is it that they understood but decided that the rule didn't apply to them? You don't need a mobile to watch a concert or listen to music. In fact, your mobile is incredibly annoying to anyone standing behind you, as they have also paid to watch an artist and, instead, have to watch a bunch of mobile screens. I guess it's all about getting that bit of video footage so you can post it somewhere because if it's not posted, it didn't happen, right? And saying please seemingly didn't work, so my guess is that she met rudeness with rudeness.

Robin Carnegy, Dubai

The fans were told. Why can't people enjoy the moment through their eyes and not a screen or lens? Still, I agree she should respect the country she is visiting and its laws. She should have simply walked off after the first warning was not respected.

Steven Buchanan, Dubai 

I disagree with most peoples' views on this and I think she should be grateful that the police were not called. Uttering profanity in public is a crime here. Had the police attended and evidence of her profanity been proved, Chrissie would have definitely been prosecuted. She should have some respect for her fans in the future.

Howard Letch, Dubai