Condoleezza Rice has urged the Israelis to stop settlement activity. It's not "conducive" to peace negotiations, she says. You'd think she might use stronger language? Peace Now is saying that settlement construction has doubled in the first half of '08, from 200 or so the year before to 400 this year. Panic.
The Palestinians can't trust the Israelis. And my American Jewish friends who stand up for the Israelis say that they can't trust the Palestinians. For how long are these two panicked weak peoples going to keep dragging the rest of the world into their cycle of violence? The best analogy is a domestic violence situation to which the neighbors have called the cops. Cops don't take sides, they take action. They speak to the interests of the community, whose peace the couple is disturbing. They separate the couple, they make an arrest. They change the course of events. They impose a solution. Henry Siegman made this sensible recommendation a year ago:
Council of a resolution affirming the following: 1. Changes to the
pre-1967 situation can be made only by agreement between the parties.
Unilateral measures will not receive international recognition. 2. The
default setting of Resolution 242… is a return by Israel’s occupying forces to
the pre-1967 border. 3. If the parties do not reach agreement within 12
months…
the default setting will be invoked by the Security Council. The
Security Council will then adopt its own terms for an end to the
conflict, and will arrange for an international force to enter the
occupied territories to help establish the rule of law, assist
Palestinians in building their institutions, assure Israel’s security
by preventing cross-border violence, and monitor and oversee the
implementation of terms for an end to the conflict. [my emphasis]
