To promote peace, Israel should not stop building
To promote peace, Israel should not stop building


“Israel is continuing to expand settlements and undermining the chances of achieving peace,” Abdullah said in a speech before Arab leaders at the 28th Arab League Summit in Jordan.

The world generally accepts this idea and so does everything it can to stop Jewish building in Judea and Samaria. Even Pres Trump is on board with the need to do so.

What, in essence, they are saying is that the only path to peace is the two-state solution and so the possibility of it must be preserved at all costs. No one in the international community doubts, for a moment that ultimately it can be achieved or that, when achieved, it will bring peace. This is so even though history and logic say it will never happen.

Those Israelis who argue against the two state solution do so because they fervently believe that such a solution would bring war not peace.

Arab intransigence should come with a price. Israel has the right to exact such a price.
The world pressures Israel to be passive and to not change the status quo no matter how long it takes to reach agreement.  It allows the Arabs to continue to demonize Israel and to build world support for its agenda but doesn’t allow Israel to defend itself literally or to  better its negotiating position as the Arabs are doing. They insist that Israel be a sitting duck.

Israel should reject the strictures. Israel has no obligation to accept the two-state solution or to refrain from building Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria. Arab intransigence should come with a price. Israel has the right to exact such a price.

Israel should adopt the policy of building aggressively to establish facts on the ground and to pressure the Arabs to make an agreement on Israel’s terms. The longer they wait the tougher the terms.

Remember, Israel has no obligation to create a Palestinian state nor to refrain from building. Only American pressure has prevented her from building.
Israel hates the two-state solution on offer so why preserve it? It's crazy.

Unfortunately Pres Trump is working to achieve an agreement between Israel and the Arab region. This gives the Arabs a veto on any solution other than the Arab Initiative. Furthermore he has yet to force the PA to stop inciting violence or to reduce US aid to them. In effect, perhaps unintentionally, he makes their intransigence possible.

He knows this.  After all he is the master of the deal. He knows that without pressure no one will compromise.

What he should do is support Israel’s  preferred unilateral actions. Let the Arabs moan and groan. They’ll come around. They would have no choice and certainly no veto.