Tell it to the PA
The prescription as presented by Gershom Gorenberg, the subject of the Nov. 14 article “Israeli writer urges settlement withdrawal” to maintain Israel as a democratic Jewish state, ignores the current positions of the Palestinian Authority.
Although Gorenberg maintains that Israel should withdraw from all of the land except for a particular portion adjacent to the current Israeli border, the longstanding position of the Palestinian Authority is for Israel’s total withdrawal back to the 1967 border, which is also the 1948 armistice line.
To date, the current negotiations between the Israeli government, a coalition that does not include any religious parties, and the Palestinian Authority have not been able to make any progress toward a settlement. The previous Israeli-Palestinian negotiation ended when the PA refused to modify its current refugee position which, if accepted by Israel, would end it as a Jewish state.
Gorenberg urges us as Americans to make our views known to the Israelis and to their leaders, but it is not clear if we should also direct our views to others, including the U.S. Middle East policy-makers, about the current non-constructive attitudes of the Palestinians.
Marvin Elmowitz
West Caldwell
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