You are right that there is an “urgent need to end the catastrophe in Gaza” (FT View, March 4). The only way to end it is through the return of all hostages and the surrender of Hamas or by its leaders taking themselves off to Qatar or somewhere similar.
The 1979 International Convention on the Taking of Hostages — a UN treaty — declares that it is a war crime and those committing it are under an obligation to return hostages unconditionally and unharmed. The international community should be working towards this end.
Your other proposals are wide of the mark. It makes little sense to resume funding to UNRWA until there is clear evidence that it has got rid of its Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters who cheered on the atrocity of October 7.
Meanwhile to give Palestine “full membership of the UN” — as you suggest President Joe Biden should call for — would be to reward that very atrocity. Hamas, and terrorist organisations throughout the world, would be rubbing their hands with glee. If they could achieve so much with one atrocity, how much more could they achieve with a whole series of them. The victims would be not only Israel but other democracies and, in particular perhaps, Britain and the US.
Sir Vernon Bogdanor
Professor of Government, King’s College London and Member of the International Advisory Council of the Israel Democracy Institute, London WC2, UK
