Palestinians need to compromise
In NJJN’s front-page article (“‘Imagine living next to Paris but being isolated from Paris,’” Feb. 13) Michele Chabin presents a one-sided negative view of the Trump peace plan. She quotes a Palestinian taxi driver, an Arab-Israeli journalist, two mayors of small West Bank Arab villages, and a representative of Fatah, all of whom are critical of the plan. Not one Jewish-Israeli citizen or government representative is interviewed to offer a counter argument.
The overriding criticism centers on the inconveniences caused by the security wall. One mayor says young people are “desperate to escape the confines of the wall.” Also addressed were infrastructure problems within the towns and dissatisfaction with the parameters of a proposed capital in northeast Jerusalem. But the solution to those problems lies in the very peace proposal they so readily reject! If a true peace would evolve there eventually would be no need for a security wall, and a $50 billion “Marshall Plan” invested in the Palestinian economy would solve the infrastructure and unemployment problems. The location of the capital may not please all, but that is the point of negotiations.
If past history is any guide, the Palestinians — to their everlasting detriment— will reject any and all proposals. Compromise has never been a part of their vocabulary. The Palestinians have to come to terms with reality if they want to improve their lives and enter the community of nations.
Michael Silver
Fresh Meadows, N.Y.
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