From "Natural Growth" to "Vertical Growth"?

I mentioned Jonathan Tobin's dust-up of Dershowitz, who had an op-ed in the WSJ and wrote this:

Rhetorically, the Obama team has definitely taken a harsher approach toward Israel compared to its tone during the campaign. But has there been a change in substance about Israel's security? In answering this question, it is essential to distinguish between several aspects of American policy.

First there are the settlements. The Bush administration was against expansion of West Bank settlements, but it was willing to accept a "natural growth" exception that implicitly permitted Israel to expand existing settlements in order to accommodate family growth. The Obama administration has so far shut the door on this exception.

I believe there is a logical compromise on settlement growth that has been proposed by Yousef Munayyer, a leader of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination League. "Obama should make it clear to the Israelis that settlers should feel free to grow their families as long as their settlements grow vertically, and not horizontally," he wrote last month in the Boston Globe. In other words, build "up" rather than "out." This seems fair to both sides, since it would preserve the status quo for future negotiations that could lead to a demilitarized Palestinian state and Arab recognition of Israel as a Jewish one -- results sought by both the Obama administration and Israel.

A majority of American-Jewish supporters of Israel, as well as Israelis, do not favor settlement expansion. Thus the Obama position on settlement expansion, whether one agrees with it or not, is not at all inconsistent with support for Israel. It may be a different position from that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but it is not a difference that should matter to most Jewish voters who support both Mr. Obama and Israel.

Well, readers wrote some letters-to-the-editor:

Discussing the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank ("Has Obama Turned on Israel," July 2), Alan M. Dershowitz advocates a "vertical-growth" exception to an Israeli settlement freeze, believing that an increase in people, but not of land, should be an acceptable compromise.

In my opinion, both he and President Barack Obama, by neglecting to distinguish the issue of residency from that of sovereignty, have their eyes on the wrong ball. What makes the settlement issue so contentious, in fact, is the refusal of the Palestinian Authority to accept, and to guarantee the safety of, Jewish settlers on land that one day could be part of a Palestinian state. If Jews were able to live securely in West Bank villages under Palestinian control, just as more than 1.3 million Arabs live safely in Israel, what would there be to quarrel about?

Mitchell J. Rapoport
Wilton, Conn.

If President Obama wants Israel to completely freeze all settlement building, he needs to recognize the distinction between Jerusalem, the capital of the Israeli nation, and other settlements. Then he needs to make a demand of the Palestinians in exchange for abrogating a previous agreement. A suggestion would be an end to incitement on Palestinian TV. Mahmoud Abbas may control no segment of Palestinian society, but he does control his own media. So why on Palestinian TV recently were college members of his Fatah party bragging about how many Israelis they've killed, and trying to outdo Hamas in praise of wanton murder and terror?

Mr. Obama was elected to pursue America's interests, and if he feels he needs to make demands of Israel to do so, he is obligated. But those influential Zionists who supported Mr. Obama need to honestly deal with his one-sided threatening actions. If Israelis nearly unanimously feel he is endangering Israel, then please address their feelings -- don't skirt the issues.

Jonathan D. Reich
Lakeland, Fla.

Alan Dershowitz wrongly claims that most Israelis agree with President Obama's position on Jewish settlements. Mr. Obama's position is that there should be a total freeze on all Jewish construction throughout the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, including even natural growth confined to the existing boundaries of such settlements -- and with that, most Israelis do not agree.

A Smith Research poll last month found that 69% of Israelis oppose freezing construction within large Jewish communities in the West Bank. Also, a major Israeli poll by the Maagar Mohot Survey Institute the same month shows that Israelis support by 56% to 37% Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's repudiation of President Obama's demand that Israel freeze all Jewish construction.

Morton A. Klein
National President
Zionist Organization of America
New York

Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have castigated Israel over the "natural growth" of settlements in the West Bank. In doing so, they have willfully distorted the truth about past understandings between the U.S. and Israel. What is even more troubling is that the Obama administration has ignored the obvious lesson of Gaza -- that settlements are not the obstacle to peace.

For Jewish voters, the problem is not just the policies Mr. Obama has enacted, but the way he has singled out Israel and adopted the malevolent views of those who wish to undermine its legitimacy. Supporters of Israel who trusted his promises last year are justified in their feelings of betrayal.

Joel Pollak
Skokie, Ill.

For anyone paying attention, Barack Obama made it perfectly clear that he believed the Arabist/leftist narrative of the Middle East "crisis." Mr. Dershowitz and other American Jews had the right to vote for him anyway, and if they want they can now admit they were knuckleheads. But they are not entitled to claim that they've been betrayed.

Richard B. Belzer
Alexandria, Va.