Get past the impasse

Regarding “Israel to expand Efrat settlement by 7,000 homes, squeezing Bethlehem” (May 6), Peace Now and Hanan Ashrawi just don’t get it.

The driving force behind the Trump peace plan and Israel’s move to annex a portion of Area C is the desire to deliver an important message to the Palestinian Authority: It’s been half a century since Israel liberated land that Egypt and Jordan had been illegally occupying; it’s been almost three decades since the Oslo Accords were signed; Israel is not going to be held hostage to Palestinian intransigence any longer.

If the Palestinians are going to take advantage of the opportunity the Trump plan offers them, they should start developing their economy and begin building in Areas A and B. They should also begin preparing their people for life in a state co-existing with the nation-state of the Jewish people. This will entail stopping incitement of violence against Israelis and telling the remaining Palestine “refugees” and their descendants that their future lies in a new Palestinian state (not in Israel).

TOBY F. BLOCK

Atlanta, GA

Regarding “Peace work” editorial (May 10), once again, the editorial board buys into the misnomers used by the international community to the detriment of the State of Israel.

I have given up on The Jerusalem Post refraining from using the term “Palestinian” for a non-people (as opposed to the term “Palestinian Arabs”) as well as refraining from calling Judea and Samaria the “West Bank” (a term created in 1948 for territory that even Jordan eventually conceded is not theirs).

Now we have the term “annexation.” It has been pointed out by various columnists in the Post that, although the results may be the same, annexation has a negative connotation that Israel is doing something illegal. The proper term to be used should be “applying sovereignty.”

The new Israeli government should accept President Trump’s plan. It requires the Palestinian Authority to:

1) Negotiate in good faith, a concept it does not understand. Witness the various intifadas and terrorist attacks after the Oslo Accords were signed.

2) Cease its “pay for slay” policy. That will never happen. Even now it pays terrorist families in full to the detriment of its own citizens.

3) Agree to a two-state solution. That will never happen, as it still believes that all of the State of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, exists on Arab territory.

As US Ambassador David Friedman points out, if the PA does not show up to negotiate or does not meet the conditions outlined in the peace plan, then Israel will have kept its side of the “Deal of the Century.”

And as we know from past experience, “the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity!” AVRAHAM FRIEDMAN

Ganei Modi’in