I would like to thank the people who so generously donated £220 to Medical Aid for Palestinians at the demonstration held in Westbury Gardens, Bradford on Avon, last Thursday. The lives of people living in Gaza are made harsh and unsustainable by the state of siege in the tiny area in which they have been forced to live since 2006.

The other Palestinian territories, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, have been fragmented and diminished by the illegal Israeli settlements and Israeli-only bypass roads. Unless this primary injustice is addressed there will be no end to the cycles of violence and no security for people.

Many people also signed our petition which has been sent to Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary.

It called on the UK to use its position on the United Nations Security Council to implement a resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire, with full humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip; that Israel lift its siege of Gaza and that the other root causes of the conflict be addressed as a matter of urgency. Both sides are losers in this conflict: Gaza has lost over 1,000 Palestinians, with 5,000 injured, and Israel has lost 48 soldiers and two civilians… as well as its soul.

Judith Hammond, Chairman, Bradford on Avon Friends of Palestine, Middle Rank, Bradford on Avon.