THE GLOBE condemns Israel’s plans for new settlements in the E-1 area as a “blow” to the Mideast peace process, lamenting how “peace talks can be held hostage to politics” (“Israeli settlement plan is a blow to Mideast peace process,” Editorial, Dec. 21).

However, the Globe does not explain why peace talks did not resume in 2008, when Israel instituted a 10-month freeze on settlements, or why settlements are a “blow” to peace at all; why can’t a future Palestinian state include some Jewish residents as part of a peace agreement? The answer to the latter is that the Palestinian Authority has always sought to exclude Jews from its territory. How a peace agreement can be made between an entity that cannot abide Jewish residents and a Jewish state is not addressed.