Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to accelerate plans for settlement construction in a sensitive area known as E-1, as well as elsewhere around Jerusalem, is a potentially damaging move for Israel, for Palestinians, and for the United States. The plans were announced in the wake of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s successful bid for observer status at the United Nations. Previously, Israelis have justified building settlements on land the country has occupied since the 1967 war with arguments about the need for a security buffer between hostile states, and for more housing. But the E-1 announcement suggests that settlements can serve a political purpose, as well — as a tool to punish Palestinians, and as a way to ensure Israel will never have to share Jerusalem with a future Palestinian state.
The announcement of the E-1 settlement plans, which provoked a strong negative reaction among many Israelis and around the world, also shows the extent to which peace talks can be held hostage to politics. It is widely believed that Netanyahu gave E-1 the green light in order to gain the support of far-right parties before Israeli elections in January.
Comments
The Mideast peace process is all process, no peace.
You make some valid points. BUT, you seriously undermine them by neglecting to cite others. For example: Many Israelis who have long supported and still support the idea of an independent Palestinian state --including many liberal relatives of mine who live there -- no longer believe that the building of additional housing in East Jerusalem or the West Bank is the problem. They believe that the Palestinian leadership has shown time and time again since Oslo that they will not stop until they have all of Israel as their own state. One need look no further than what is being taught to youth in Palestinian textbooks (on the West Bank -- forget the more radical Gaza!). Also, one need look no further than what is being stated on official Palestinian Authority media. In short, another generation of Palestinians is being bred for war, not peace. And also being brainwashed to believe that all Jews (not just Israeli Jews) are inherently evil. You see, what they say publicly in English to western media is not what they saw in Arabic at home. As for the new housing, Israel has proven again and again that when true peace is offered by their enemies, they will turn over huge amounts of land -- and painfully clear out their citizens to make it possible. Israel turned over all of the Sinai back to Egypt for a true peace agreement. Israel also cleared out of Gaza in 2005 -- in the hopes that Gazans would build a model society that could become a peaceful state -- only to be hit with thousands of rockets since the pull-out. This is insane. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the Palestinian AUthority refuses to sit down with the Israeli government to negotiate a real peace. Bottom line here: Until your editorials reflect these problems, which most Israelis today believe is THE problem, you undermine the credibility of whatever valid points you have made.
Typo: I meant to write "say" not "saw" in this sentence: "You see, what they say publicly in English to western media is not what they say in Arabic at home."
The premise of this editorial is utterly false. Building apartments for Jewish families on the outskirts of Jerusalem is not the obstacle to peace between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine. The real obstacle is the unwillingness of many Arabs to accept the existence of a sovereign state with a Jewish majority -- Israel. For decades, various Israeli leaders have offered to share Mandatory Palestine with its Arab population. That willingness has been met by wars, terrorist bombings, rocket attacks and incessant anti-Jewish propaganda. Do you editorial writers have any sense of history?
Yes, Ozark, this editorial board clearly does not have any sense, or knowledge, of history. This editorial was written in an absolute vacuuum -- and I wonder if the writer has even been to Israel. It simply astonishes me how editorialists can sit comfortably in their chairs thousands of miles away from Israelis, and judge them so harshly -- as if Israelis are stupid, uneducated, and have no clue how they should run their country and survive at the same time.
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