Peace Talks in ... Hebron

Peace talks, literally, on the ground and the NYTimes is there:-

Sheik Jabari, 64, is one of the most outspoken critics of the Palestinian Authority but is respected on the streets of Hebron as the descendant of a dynasty that stretches back nearly a millennium. He said he began hosting Jewish settlers in his home in 2008, and last year he built the “peace tent” on a barren hill owned by his family to receive larger groups. 

Surrounding him on Thursday were religious Jews with whom he has forged fragile friendships, including Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, an American who 30 years ago founded the settlement of Efrat, now one of the most established Jewish areas in the West Bank; Gershon Mesika, the mayor of the Shomron Regional Council; Noam Arnon, a spokesman for Jews in Hebron; and Nissim Zeev, a member of Parliament from the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party. Also attending was Yoram Ettinger, a former minister of Congressional affairs in the Israeli Embassy in Washington. 

Theirs is not a two-state solution. Instead, they spoke about living side by side with Muslims in a land both claim as their own, under what authority other than God it was not entirely clear. 

“The Bible says that the children of Isaac and the children of Ishmael will live together,” Rabbi Riskin said. “The dream has got to be our living together in peace. It cannot be represented by Palestinian leaders who still, at best, refuse to recognize the existence of the state of Israel. 

“With people like Sheik Jabari,” he added, “there is a true possibility of peace on an immediate level.”

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu, did not know about Thursday’s meeting but said that “the Israeli government favors people-to-people meetings.” Xavier Abu Eid, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority’s negotiating team, was more critical, saying that any efforts not approved by Mr. Abbas “could not have any outcome when it comes to final negotiations.”

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