Reply #99: "Now my opinion is, "...now it's the Palestinian's turn."

[bloom]

I thought that sounded reasonable until I found this:


Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Tuesday October 18, 2005
The Guardian

"Israel redraws the roadmap, building quietly and quickly

Settler population grows as Sharon grabs more West Bank land than he returned in Gaza

At the northern edge of Jerusalem, on the main road to the Palestinian city of Ramallah, three towering concrete walls are converging around a rapidly built maze of cages, turnstiles and bomb-proof rooms...

But these de facto border posts are just one element in a web of construction evidently intended to redraw Israel's borders deep inside the Palestinian territories and secure all of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and to do it fast so as to put the whole issue beyond negotiation. As foreign leaders, including Tony Blair, praised Mr Sharon for his "courage" in pulling out of Gaza last month, Israel was accelerating construction of the West Bank barrier, expropriating more land in the West Bank than it was surrendering in Gaza, and building thousands of new homes in Jewish settlements.

"It's a trade off: the Gaza Strip for the settlement blocks; the Gaza Strip for Palestinian land; the Gaza Strip for unilaterally imposing borders," said Dror Etkes, director of the Israeli organisation Settlement Watch. "They don't know how long they've got. That's why they're building like maniacs....

Israel is also continuing to expand the amount of territory it intends to retain. In July alone, it seized more land in the West Bank than it surrendered in Gaza: it withdrew from about 19 square miles of territory while sealing off 23 sq miles of the West Bank around Maale Adumim."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1594808,00.html

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While I would like to see both sides work toward peace - it doesn't look like the Israelis are doing much to even the score - whatever "balance" is just tipping more to their side.