By Josh Basson, , Seattle
Leslie Susser’s insightful front page column was quite informative (“Is Hamas reassessing its strategy?” May 29).
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal’s offer to Israel of a 10-year truce with clearly unacceptable conditions to both Israel and Western governments is a futile attempt to improve its international image. Israel is right to insist that Hamas must first recognize Israel as a Jewish state and renounce terror. Hamas’s goal continues to be the phased destruction of Israel, as called for in their charter.
The Obama administration is mistaken in believing that pressuring Israel to freeze settlement building in Jerusalem and the West Bank will bring an end to the conflict. It will send the wrong message of appeasement to the terrorists and embolden them and could force Israel out of existence with indefensible borders.
Since the West Bank is disputed territory — it is worth noting that before the West Bank was “occupied” by the Israelis in 1967 when they beat off the Arab aggression, it was under Jordanian occupation that started in 1948, and that prior to that it was occupied by the British who had the mandate to do so from the League of Nations. Prior to that it was part of the Ottoman Empire. The “Palestine state” never existed and cannot claim any territory as legitimately its own.
The right of Jews to settle in the land of Israel was recognized in the League of Nations’ “Mandate for Palestine,” which stressed the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.
There will be no real peace if Israel does not have defensible borders and the freedom to live within them. That is why settlement activity must continue in the same fashion it has for the last five years. Any imposed settlement freeze on Israel is unrealistic and a fallacy.