Comments on: Settlements Increase While the Door Closes

By: Solomon Sager

Solomon Sager — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:45:24 +0000

Brant,
This is an important topic, and your recognition of it should be praised; both sides could benefit from more self-reflection, instead of the endless finger-pointing.
That being said, it is important to remember that the settlements are a very fragile issue. The current parliamentary majority includes the Shas party, a powerful pro-settlement group. To attribute the loss of hope in the West Bank directly to the increased settlements, as Lynn Pollack does, is dangerous. There has been significant failure in the Palestinian leadership in the last three years that has certainly contributed at least as much, if not more, to the decimation of the Palestinians’ hope.
If both sides were to recognize that concessions must be made, we may be able to reach an agreement.

Shana Tova.

Joey Sager

By: Lynn Pollack

Lynn Pollack — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:19:15 +0000

Thank you, Brant, for bringing this issue to people’s attention. I’ve been to the West Bank twice since 2005 and the dramatic increase in settlements is overwhelming, completely obvious to even a casual observer and glaringly so to Palestinians living there. When I visited three years ago Palestinians were talking about their dream of an independent state. This July, I heard no one speak of that as a possibility and one was viewed as a complete fool if you asked about it. What are the alternatives? Can we find a way to share the land as equals?

By: Mike Okrent

Mike Okrent — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:46:52 +0000

Brant,
You are taking a principled position. Too often Jews, and their supporters, talk about the Palestinian not offering a real partner to peace. How can that be said when such flagrant actions are undermining what should be negotiating points. For all the protests to the contrary, the creation of these facts on the ground put a lie to the idea of the Israelis being a true partner to peace.

Go forward in strength.