Gary Rosenblatt is spot-on in referring to “politicians in Jerusalem and Washington desperately seeking a means of escape from the S.S Oslo, the outdated, ill-fated peace process that is still taking in water, doomed to go under” (“Averting Disaster In U.S.-Israeli Relations,” March 19).
The next logical step is to understand what was wrong with the core Oslo peace process, and the answer is that regarding Jewish settlement, i.e. building, as a problem rather than as a neutral life activity at the very least, is what made the entire process go awry, both then and now. The presence of Jews in a geographical area, specifically one located within the historical land of the Jewish people, is never a problem. Rather, it is a fact of life — one that has historically been a boon to mankind. For as long as so many Americans, and even Israelis, continue to speak of Jewish building as a problem rather than as a solution, so too will any peace process be doomed to failure.
Dehumanizing Jews by delegitimizing their life activities, such as building and defending themselves, is worse than useless. The liberal Jewish community should be, but usually is not, the first to bravely point out these insights to the Obama administration.
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