And Now the Letters-to-the-Editor on Dani Dayan's Op-ed

The letters-to-the-Editor responding to Dani Dayan's op-ed:


Abandon the Two-State Solution?
JUNE 12, 2014

To the Editor:

Dani Dayan’s plan for improving the lives of West Bank Palestinians (“Peaceful Nonreconciliation Now,” Op-Ed, June 9) is smoke and mirrors.

Mr. Dayan, a former leader of West Bank settlers, shares responsibility for messing up the lives of West Bank Palestinians by building dozens of settlements in what should be the future state of Palestine in the hope that what he calls “Judea and Samaria” would be annexed to Israel.

His plan is aimed at erasing the Green Line that separates the West Bank from Israel, and denying the Palestinians what they really want — an independent state, free from Israeli occupation. If Mr. Dayan really cares about Palestinians’ daily life — and about the future of Israel as a democracy and a Jewish state — he and his fellow settlers should return to Israel and leave the West Bank for Palestinians to have a state of their own.

ORI NIR
Spokesman, Americans for Peace Now
Washington, June 9, 2014

To the Editor:

By any metric, the United States-backed peace process in the Mideast has been an abject failure. It has accomplished nothing in the way of reducing violence, mitigating the occupation, improving living standards or promoting human rights. At least Dani Dayan is suggesting constructive ideas that can be implemented in the imminent future, even if it means that the United States need not be invited to the party.

At a certain point, the notion of recycling the same stale, unachievable formula for a final status agreement between Israelis and Palestinians via a United States-imposed peace process will become irrelevant. Perhaps Mr. Dayan would agree that we’ve long since reached that point.

YITZHAK BRONSTEIN
New York, June 10, 2014

To the Editor:

Dani Dayan says there are “practical issues that can and should be solved,” and calls his plan “a blueprint for peaceful nonreconciliation.” Unfortunately, everything he suggests is something that Israel must do.

For example, the security barrier “should ultimately be dismantled and Palestinians should enjoy complete freedom of movement.” “Barriers, checkpoints and military restrictions on movement must be lifted.” “Palestinians should be allowed full entry into Jewish towns.”

No requirements from the writer on the Palestinians.

And if Israel does as suggested and Palestinian terrorists kill and maim Israelis as a result of these steps, would Mr. Dayan blame Israel for that? After all, Hamas — now part of the Palestinian government — has sworn to continue its campaign of terror.

GERALD DEUTSCH
Glen Head, N.Y., June 9, 2014

To the Editor:

Dani Dayan is correct to call on Israel to improve the conditions of the Palestinians in the West Bank in ways that would be consistent with Israel’s security needs. However, Mr. Dayan wrongly dismisses the imperative of creating a Palestinian state to ensure Israel’s own future as a Jewish and democratic state. On-the-ground improvements are essential, but they ultimately cannot be a substitute for advancing a negotiated resolution to the conflict, based on two states for two peoples.

If Mr. Dayan, a former settler leader, were serious about promoting practical steps to create a better atmosphere in the region, he would join Israel’s justice minister, Tzipi Livni, finance minister, Yair Lapid, and opposition leader, Isaac Herzog, who have all recently proposed that Israel freeze West Bank settlement construction beyond the major Israeli population blocs.

Israel and the Palestinians each should take actions on the ground, but those actions must serve to constructively reinforce — not undermine — the opportunity to achieve a two-state solution.

PETER A. JOSEPH
New York, June 9, 2014

The writer is chairman of the Israel Policy Forum.


And some of that above passes for intelligent insight?

My JPost blog comment.

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