The tired old accusation that Israel is guilty again (but we knew that: Israel is always guilty of something) of “land grab” proves once again false, as anyone who would bother to look at the fine print would have found out. To put it in the simplest terms: the area Israel just designated for construction of new suburbs south of Jerusalem (we’ve got to stop calling them “settlements”, which they are not) is already within one of the areas that everyone, including the Palestinians, know full well will become part of Israel in any formula adopted towards a final peace treaty, as unlikely an outcome as it appears now. With the brutal rocket attacks by Hamas for 50 long days, all of Israel has awakened to the reality that the same rockets could now be fired from the West Bank, much closer to the heart of Israel. Therefore, building within the existing areas already built beyond the green line makes a lot of sense. Also, it sends the message to the Palestinians that the more they dither, wait, keep make more demands and all around waste more time than they already have since 1967, the less land they will be left with for the day they finally decide to really make peace. At this rate, they won’t have much left in another 50 years. Fine. Their choice. Israel is under no obligation to put its survival in the hands of people who have proven completely irresponsible so far. Jonathan Tobin clarifies the issue below. commentarymagazine/2014/09/01/the-israeli-land-grab-and-hopes-for-peace-gush-etzion-west-bank/
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:16:42 +0000
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