Israel has tried to offer solutions

RE: Bill 62 is a precursor to coming elections (Nov. 1)

Contrary to Andrew Bell’s claims, Israel’s building of homes in eastern Jerusalem takes place in its eternal undivided capital. Jews are in no way “colonists” and are indigenous to the land of Israel having continuously lived there for over 3,000 years. The Jewish people have sovereign, ancestral and legal rights to the Land of Israel and Judea and Sameria (West Bank).

Furthermore, Israel hasn’t built a single settlement in many years and has taken efforts to dismantle illegal outposts. An increase in the population in some settlement areas is only due to the natural growth of those living there. Would Mr. Bell support a quota on births and a restriction for settlers to have children thereby denying them self-determination? Israeli settlements aren’t the primary obstacle to Mideast peace, despite UN Resolution 2334’s saying so. Importantly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the only Israeli leader to have ever instituted both a 10-month and a quiet 18month moratorium on settlement building, and President Trump says a freeze is totally unnecessary. Under the Netanyahu administration, settlement construction has grown at a slower rate than in the past 20 years.

Israel has tried to offer solutions and peace plans, however, the Palestinians’ failure to disavow terror, their refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist and their unyielding demands for a Palestinian state to be created from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, are the true barriers to Mideast peace. Mike Fegelman, executive director, HonestReporting Canada