It is clearly misleading and disrespectful to lay any parallels between what the Jews suffered at Auschwitz and elsewhere to the local scene.

It is very wrong to abuse of history in this way. Such ridiculous comparisons convince none, and only serve to fan anti-irregular immigrant feeling.

It is obvious that Danielle Vella cannot convince the Norman Lowells of this world. But if she wants to convince the rest of us who are caught in the middle on this issue she does need to get off her impractical high horse and start being a bit practical and realistic.

Let us get a few facts together first. The vast majority of those trying to get into Europe, by fair means or foul, are economic refugees. They want a job. They want money to buy their Nikes and to date girlfriends. They are like young men everywhere! They are in search of a better life, and yes, who can blame them?

However large, Europe must be practical and small Malta even more practical.

If 50,000 arrived next Summer, what does Danielle Vella and those of her ilk propose? That they all should come in, be given benefits or jobs which are in short supply locally, and wait for the next 50,000 the following Summer?

It has been estimated that those who arrived last year would be like 150,000 arriving in Italy! How would they cope? How can we cope?

It is true that some of the racism we have witnessed is appalling. If we believe the story as told in the pictures in The Times and the footage on Net news, it is pretty obvious that orders were given which the soldiers carried out too roughly … way, way too roughly in my view.

The reason the irregular immigrants are getting so little sympathy is quite simply that people feel we have no room for more of them. People who need jobs, people who need social benefits, people whose children need schooling.

You can call this racism or xenophobia, but it is not remotely the same as wiping out part of a country as the Germans tried to do with the Jews (with the collaboration of many others). A similar situation in Malta would be if the people from the South wanted to wipe out the people of Sliema, or if the Beltin wanted to wipe out the Furjanizi. It is just ridiculous.

There may be resentment or rivalry between these groups, but genocide is appalling and very, very different.

And the soldiers are getting sympathy for two reasons. One is a bad one. There is a minority group which hates these immigrants and think they got what they deserved. The rest though, the silent majority who do not write letters to newspapers, know that if they were honest, they would hate to be doing the job the soldiers are doing. They would hate to deal with the abuse. They would be frightened of this work.

And, let us be honest. Fear is a big factor here, and the truth is that few would say they would want a house of immigrants next door to them. The outright majority would not and herein lies the problem. Those who are already experiencing these open centres next door to their homes are worried, and rightly so. Is this going to be a permanent problem? Will their house value be affected? People like Danielle Vella can write as many platitudes as they want, but the concern is understandable and does have to be addressed.

People like Danielle Vella think that irrespective of how many arrive – they should all roam free!

One thing I keep on hearing is that people feel that years have been spent paying taxes to build up systems of education, health and the like. Can others benefit just by arriving illegally? It is one thing for those who are victims of torture and oppression, but the majority are not.

And it is pretty obvious they are not. I experienced the incredible arrogance and rudeness from one of these people who was given a job at a beach concession this Summer. I do not expect people to be grateful, but if you arrive in a country which is not your own and you are given work, do not expect the locals to love you if you are rude to them.

He treated me like a bit of dirt when I queried something, and I got just the smallest taste of what the soldiers must feel, admittedly because of a few troublemakers. But resentment does build up and does always find expression somewhere.

The closest we came in Malta to that hatred of each other feeling, the Auschwitz factor if Danielle wants to term it such, was in those turbulent Mintoff/Karmenu years where the reds were incited to hate the blues, and where the blues were incited to hate the reds.

That legacy is still there, and is still worrying and all, but the Malta Labour Party in particular would be wise to stop fanning it.

The constant reference in Labour meetings to the “kbir” versus the “zghir” or the “hbieb tal-hbieb” versus the others may be fun to utter but is only rabble rousing and stoking up the old bad feelings. It should be stopped.

I hope that they moderate their talk at their rallies because in reality this kind of talk just stokes up resentment that all have about one thing or another. The man who did not get a contract feels resentful. The woman who saw her husband go off with a Russian 20 years her junior feels resentful. The mothers who see their bright but not well-connected children bypassed for jobs feel very resentful.

We all have a story to tell of one injustice or another. And do remember that we Maltese know very well what it is like not to be wanted and about economic hardship. That is why so many migrated so far away, not out of choice but because they could not just breeze into Europe as today illegal immigrants seem to think they have a right to do.

My view is that detention must remain. Detention facilities need to be improved, though I hear that when improvements are carried out, they are often just vandalised again. If word gets out and back to Africa that Malta is just an easy place to park, our problems will multiply.

And, yes the Maltese are racist. Like everyone else by the way. You can call it clanny instead of racist and we love our clans!

These are the two extremes (although of course the Danielles of this world are well-meaning while the Norman Lowells are not) whose views are getting most airing. I hope politicians and others will be courageous enough to air the middle view.

The middle view is we do not wish them any harm. The middle view is that we can take a small number (who are victims of torture and oppression) proportionate to our size but no open door to detention policy.

And we must fight harder for these claims to be processed in North Africa, from where they set off, and not from here. I am amazed at the hypocrisy of certain countries calling these proposed camps on the North African coast potential concentration camps.

Why is it better for them to risk their lives on a rickety boat than to have their claims checked at their departure point?