Published in the Church of England Newspaper:

Sir, The Bishop of Exeter's article entitled Faith Hope and Love (Dec 7) is a travesty.

He does not even acknowledge that the State of Israel is a sovereign state, but pretends that it is an oppressive and stealthy force, preventing Christians from living their daily life. This is how many Christians used to describe the Jews in their midst, as 'shadowy, untrustworthy' individuals.

It is perhaps not surprising that over a period of two years the Bishop has refused to answer any of my e-mails regarding his sycophancy towards Islam and disregard for Jewish sensibilities.

His article does not mention the terror of suicide bombers and more recently of Hamas, which has tried to scupper the Annapolis peace process by making it clear that the entire area is, in their view, a Muslim territory, stretching from the 'river to the sea', with no room for the Jewish population, nor by implication for the Christian community either. As the Bishop well knows, the 'Wall' as he puts it is there to save life.

The saving of life was the subject of the recent Commission of Anglican and Jewish leaders, which met in Jerusalem this summer, chaired this end by the Chief Rabbi of Haifa. The two sets of leaders agreed that the saving of life is paramount. As the Commission was set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury, we can assume that he agrees with these sentiments, which are surely a tenet of the Christian faith.

Therefore, it can be assumed that the Archbishop of Canterbury at least must understand the need for such a barrier which is currently saving the life of all those who live in Israel, including the 20 per cent Arab population of Israel. It would seem therefore that the Bishop of Exeter's behaviour might be conceived of as being contradictory to the spirit of the agreement made between the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, or so it would appear by the statements that were forthcoming in both written and oral form during and after the meetings.

These are the facts about Israel. Half the world's Jewish population now lives in Israel. The State of Israel came into being by a vote which took place exactly 60 years ago by the members of the UN. Lambeth Palace has belatedly admitted this and also endorsed positively the Christian contribution to the founding of the State of Israel and before that the formulation of the Balfour Declaration (1917). Lambeth Palace has also acknowledged the eternal religious, theological, historical, cultural and linguistic ties of the Jewish people worldwide to the Land of Israel. The Bishop of Exeter, in contrast, writes in a vacuum, as if the Jewish people did not exist.

There is a phrase for this type of aloof and condescending behaviour and it is called 'replacement theology'.

Dr Irene Lancaster