I SHALL not be joining Ken Livingstone, Tony Benn, Bianca Jagger and Annie Lennox in their protests about Israel’s incursion into Gaza.

Israel is acting in self-defence after years of severe provocation. How would America react if it were bombarded daily with rockets lobbed across from Cuba?

How would we react if terrorists established themselves in Scotland and rained down missiles on Darlington and Durham?

Israel issued countless warnings that it would retaliate if the Hamas bombardment continued. Every day for a long time terrorised Israeli children have had to take their school lessons in bomb shelters. Life in the small towns such as Sderot near the border with Gaza, had become intolerable.

Something had to be done. No responsible government could allow its civilian population to be terrorised in this way.

Senior members of Arab governments have repeatedly warned Hamas of the consequences of their bombing Israeli villages. On December 27, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit harshly censured Hamas, placing responsibility on them for the current war. At a noon press conference broadcast on Egyptian television, he said that Egypt had repeatedly cautioned Hamas against continuing to fire rockets into Israel and added that therefore Hamas should assume responsibility for the Israeli retaliation and not blame others.

The recent history of this conflict shows clearly that Hamas is merely another one of those middle eastern terrorist, jihadist organisations that have vowed many times to wipe Israel off the map. They receive financial and military support from Israel’s enemies, Syria and Iran.

Israel has tried to establish peaceful co-existence with Hamas. In 2005 Israelis withdrew completely from Gaza. This was not enough to satisfy Hamas who immediately started their campaign of bombing.

Eventually there was a ceasefire. But Hamas broke this ceasefire and started launching its rockets again before Christmas.

The longer history of this conflict supports the view that Arab extremists and Islamic jihadists are responsible for the ongoing violence in the area. Time and again western nations have brokered a truce – most famously in the Camp David agreement which was drafted while Bill Clinton was still president.

On that occasion Arafat returned to the Palestinian territories and there was a lively hope that he would ratify the accord.

Instead he started the intifada – the terrorist uprising against Israel.

The Camp David agreement would have been momentous, paving the way for a two states solution: Israel and the Palestinians living side by side in peace.

We should be in no doubt that it was the Palestinian extremists who scuppered the accord.

They did not and do not want peaceful co-existence: they want only the destruction of Israel.

They have expressed this wish many times.

Why should we not believe them?

The reaction of most western politicians and almost all the European mass media is to blame Israel for the suffering which is now undoubtedly taking place. I find this reaction astonishing and repulsive.

Why are western governments and newspapers taking the side of the terrorists? Israel has made it plain that if the bombardment by Hamas rockets ceases, then Israel will end its incursion.

Blaming Israel and exonerating the terrorist regime Hamas is to call fair foul and foul fair.