Daily Alert Archives

Building Blocs

(Jerusalem Post) Editorial - All Israeli governments have backed building in Jewish east Jerusalem and in the large settlement blocs. A majority of Israelis have viewed Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem such as Pisgat Ze'ev, Gilo and Ramat Shlomo as an integral part of the state since they came into Israeli control in the wake of the Six-Day War. Large settlements such as Efrat, Ariel and Maale Adumim are seen as remaining a part of Israel in any two-state solution reached with the Palestinians. While a strong majority of Israelis has consistently supported a two-state solution for well over a decade, Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank have remained unwavering in their irredentism and if anything have grown more extreme in their rejection of a Jewish state existing anywhere in "Palestine." It is Palestinian intransigence, not Jewish building in consensus Jerusalem neighborhoods and settlement blocs, that is the real obstacle to a negotiated peace and a two-state solution. Most Israelis understand this. Perhaps one day the world will understand it, too.
2012-12-21 00:00:00
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