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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Settlements, the key barrier to Mideast peace

Settlements, the key barrier to Mideast peace

Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Oct. 3 news story "Palestinians: Peace talks hinge on Israeli settlement construction" reported that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, making the case for not renewing the temporary moratorium on settlement construction, "has argued that . . . halting settlement construction was never a precondition for previous Israeli-Palestinian negotiations." He stated, "For 17 years the Palestinians conducted direct talks with Israeli governments while building went on."

But this is precisely the issue: The building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has continued unabated since the Oslo peace process began in 1993, when there were 264,400 settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. By 2008 the number was at 488,471, up 85 percent.

Experts estimate the current number at about 500,000 and growing. The expanding settlements carve up the West Bank, leaving shrinking enclaves of land for a Palestinian state. This is why the Palestinians insist on a settlement freeze as they go into negotiations.

Susan P. Wilder, Washington

The writer is representative for Middle East policy for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

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