I am shocked that Balliol College invited Shimon Peres, the Israeli President, to address a meeting at the Sheldonian (November 20).

Mr Peres has had a chequered career. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for negotiating with Yasser Arafat. But when Israeli prime minister, Peres was responsible for a big expansion in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

Israel is currently establishing an illegal system of walls and check-points to permanently divide Israel and Palestine. Peres is head of state of a country that is besieging and starving the hapless people of Gaza.

The university meeting is damaging to community relations in Oxford with our many Muslim adherents. It is also distressing to the many Oxford people who believe it is the Israelis who are the main aggressors in that part of the world.

I am dismayed to hear that Balliol may even be considering arranging a series of lectures named after Shimon Peres. I hope this is not the case.

Nobody wants to restrict Balliol’s academic freedom. But this promotion of Shimon Peres is damaging to the good name of the university and of Oxford itself.

John Tanner

Oxford City Councillor for Littlemore, and Board Member for a Cleaner, Greener Oxford Sunningwell Road Oxford