Now that the US government has vetoed the resolution in the UN condemning illegal Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank (Leader, 21 February), surely it is up to European countries to back up their support for this resolution by suspending the EU trade treaty with Israel and imposing sanctions until such time as Israel halts its illegal expansion. At a time when various Arab peoples are struggling to establish their own constitutional and human rights, someone has to show the Arab world that the west has not entirely lost its moral fibre.

Michael Forbes Young

London

• The US veto will severely damage prospects for a wider agreement. Those struggling for democracy in north Africa and the Middle East will see this as evidence that US support for their aims is at best half-hearted. In turn that may encourage, on one hand, another despot to seize the initiative or, on the other, a radical party to win an election. Either way, the outcome may be those countries seeking future alliances with China.

John Pelling

Kedington, Suffolk

• Following Ian McEwan's outspoken attack on the Israeli government's policies towards Palestinians in his speech accepting the Jerusalem prize (Report, 21 February), can we expect his detractors, who angrily urged him not to go to Israel to receive it, to eat their words? I doubt it.

David Halpin

Bath

• Ian McEwan has shown that dialogue is more effective than boycotts.

Paul Miller

London