Settlements and Peace
As the Washington Post explained, settlements are not the obstacle to peace.
The editorial makes the following points:
– “Following the 1993 Oslo accords, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, like several before it, has limited building almost entirely to areas that both sides expect Israel to annex through territorial swaps in an eventual settlement … ”
– Almost all of the Jewish settlers live on only four percent of the West Bank, the sector that Israel has been seeking to annex as part of a peace plan that was first presented twelve years ago.
– Israel’s latest construction, which will connect Maale Adumim — a short walk from Jerusalem — with the rest of the city is hardly the destruction of any chance for peace which has been portrayed in much of the Western media and by some Western governments. The worst-case scenario would be that if this corridor determined the ultimate border between two states, Palestinian motorists might have to take a detour of about ten minutes.
– Those who “are really interested in progress toward Palestinian statehood … will press [Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud] Abbas to stop using settlements as an excuse for intransigence — and cool their own overheated rhetoric.”
Two key points to highlight in responding to this charge are:
1. The day after the Israel-PLO agreement was signed in 1993, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made it clear that Israel’s interpretation was that it permitted continued construction on existing settlements. The Palestinian Authority did not object, and that policy did not prevent it from negotiating over the next seven years. People think that Israel is establishing new settlements or expanding the size of existing ones. Both claims are untrue.
2. If the Palestinian side wants an end to settlements, that should be an incentive for reaching a peace agreement faster and thus getting rid of all settlements on the territory of the new state of Palestine. If they are really being so hurt by the existence and growth of settlements, then make peace fast and get rid of them. If they don’t want to make peace fast and get rid of them, then settlements aren’t the problem; Israel’s existence is.
– And that means you have an unsolvable problem.
With thanks to Barry Rubin.
Does anybody listen to what the Palestinians say they want?
According to a study conducted in August 2017 by The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, when asked what they consider to be the most serious problem confronting Palestinian society, the Palestinian public ranks poverty and unemployment, and the spread of corruption in public institutions, as their top two concerns. Only 23% say that their top priority is the continuation of occupation and settlement activities. But when was the last time that you heard a Palestinian activist talk about poverty and corruption?
The editorial makes the following points:
– “Following the 1993 Oslo accords, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, like several before it, has limited building almost entirely to areas that both sides expect Israel to annex through territorial swaps in an eventual settlement … ”
– Almost all of the Jewish settlers live on only four percent of the West Bank, the sector that Israel has been seeking to annex as part of a peace plan that was first presented twelve years ago.
– Israel’s latest construction, which will connect Maale Adumim — a short walk from Jerusalem — with the rest of the city is hardly the destruction of any chance for peace which has been portrayed in much of the Western media and by some Western governments. The worst-case scenario would be that if this corridor determined the ultimate border between two states, Palestinian motorists might have to take a detour of about ten minutes.
– Those who “are really interested in progress toward Palestinian statehood … will press [Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud] Abbas to stop using settlements as an excuse for intransigence — and cool their own overheated rhetoric.”
Two key points to highlight in responding to this charge are:
1. The day after the Israel-PLO agreement was signed in 1993, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made it clear that Israel’s interpretation was that it permitted continued construction on existing settlements. The Palestinian Authority did not object, and that policy did not prevent it from negotiating over the next seven years. People think that Israel is establishing new settlements or expanding the size of existing ones. Both claims are untrue.
2. If the Palestinian side wants an end to settlements, that should be an incentive for reaching a peace agreement faster and thus getting rid of all settlements on the territory of the new state of Palestine. If they are really being so hurt by the existence and growth of settlements, then make peace fast and get rid of them. If they don’t want to make peace fast and get rid of them, then settlements aren’t the problem; Israel’s existence is.
– And that means you have an unsolvable problem.
With thanks to Barry Rubin.
Does anybody listen to what the Palestinians say they want?
According to a study conducted in August 2017 by The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, when asked what they consider to be the most serious problem confronting Palestinian society, the Palestinian public ranks poverty and unemployment, and the spread of corruption in public institutions, as their top two concerns. Only 23% say that their top priority is the continuation of occupation and settlement activities. But when was the last time that you heard a Palestinian activist talk about poverty and corruption?
