Letter: Love thy neighbour

Sir: Gregg Stevens asserts that Baruch Goldstein, the fanatic who murdered 29 Palestinians at prayer in Hebron, is "reviled by his own society" (letter, 24 August).

He forgets that the lasting legacy of his actions (apart from a deep bitterness in the families of the dead) is a large marble monument erected in Hebron by the grateful settlers to honour his memory.

If Muslim countries were helped to develop education and freedom of speech by the great powers rather than continually vilified in the Western press, it is more than likely that there would be no call among disaffected, unemployed Muslim youth for the "eradication of Western culture".

But encouraging such cultural shifts would take time, and win no votes at election time for democratic leaders anxious to prove their mettle.

We have not learned to love our neighbours: we are still stuck with the vengeful mentality of the Old Testament which started this same vendetta thousands of years ago.

CHRISTOPHER STEWART

Cambridge