I accompanied a cross-party group of MPs on a visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank last month and this point was put to an Israeli journalist. Is the Palestinian Authority guilty of incitement? Is it true that streets are named after murderers?

He said the MPs who believed this should visit his part of Jerusalem where “ALL the streets are named after murderers” – members of Irgun, Lehi and Haganah who fought for independence for Israel in 1948.

He was exaggerating, but there are streets named after Shlomo Ben-Yosef (who threw a grenade at an Arab bus), Eliyahu Hakim (who assassinated Lord Moyne), Eliyahu Bet-Zuri (who tried to assassinate Winston Churchill), Menachem Begin (leader of the group that blew up the King David Hotel killing 91 and later Prime Minister) and Olei Hagardom (the 12 militants executed by the British on charges of terrorism).

There are certainly public buildings in the West Bank named after people Israelis would regard as “terrorists” and there are posters celebrating “martyrs” who have died in the conflict, but the truth is that every country that has fought for its independence glorifies people that the other side regard as “terrorists”.

The irony is that the current Palestinian government is led by politicians who advocate non-violent resistance and are more often under attack for being too “moderate” while the current leaders of the Israeli government are rightly regarded as “extremists” in almost every country other than Israel.

Eric Pickles also holds up the way that the Israeli government deals with Jewish extremism as exemplary.  Not many would agree. The United Nations has recorded more than 2,100 settler attacks on unarmed Palestinians in the last eight years.  Often the attacks are witnessed by Israeli soldiers who take no action.  If Palestinian police are present, they are not allowed to arrest Israelis. Over 90% of complaints have not even led to a charge and only the most extreme cases (such as the burning alive of Mohammed Khdair and the fire-bombing of the Duwabshe family) have led to custodial sentences for settlers.