In reality, the breakdown is due to Kerry and President Barack Obama because they have been arguing in the same wrong way.
By JERUSALEM POST READERSLetters 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Handout )Kerry and peace Sir, – With regard to “Kerry hints: Israel to blame for deadlocked peace process” (April 9), US Secretary of State John Kerry rebuked Israel quite strongly because it announced plans to build in the neighborhood of Gilo, which he called “east Jerusalem.” Although he castigated Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas mildly for running to the United Nations, he primarily aimed at Israel for the breakdown in the peace talks.In reality, the breakdown is due to Kerry and President Barack Obama because they have been arguing in the same wrong way.No one can use the argument of 1967 in the year 2014. The facts on the ground make it impossible to go back. This means the whole peace process is based on the wrong premise – for all these years, no one has told the Arabs that it is now a different world and they have to accept this reality. (The United States should learn for itself from what Obama is telling Russia: What Russia could get in 1900 in its empire building, it cannot achieve in 2014.) This is the message the US president should be telling the Arabs. Jerusalem will never again be divided.It will not be the capital of two nations. It will be the capital of Israel and Israel will build housing all over the city.The US should retreat from its own untenable positions. It should take time out, and if it really is concerned about peace it should not focus on its 2014 midterm elections but on real problem solving.Maybe that way there will be a chance for true peace efforts.TOBY WILLIG JerusalemSir, – The level of anger in Washington is growing to unprecedented levels.
What needs to be understood is that the United States, as the world’s only remaining superpower, can, if pushed to the wall, go before the United Nations and declare the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict a threat not only to US national security interests, but also to world peace. It could impose a settlement on both sides, including the sharing of a capital city for two states and a blanket restriction on further settlement expansion in remote parts of the West Bank.Think it can’t happen? Better think again. The US could also cut off all military, intelligence and commercial ties with Israel as well.We should all prepare for new elections in a few months’ time.MITCHELL RADOV Ashdot Ya’acovSir, – On September 2, 1939, when some British MPs heard Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s reaction to Hitler’s attack on Poland the previous day, they vomited. This is exactly how I felt when I heard US Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks pinning the blame for the deadlocked peace process on Israel.MLADEN ANDRIJASEVIC BeershebaUnproved Sir, – I was interested to see your article “‘Al-Dura doctor’ Yehuda David announces presidential candidacy” (April 9). However, barring evidence from other than the French TV myth that Mohamed al-Dura actually died, you should not be writing this as fact. It’s an unproven allegation at best.JONATHAN FELDSTEIN EfratOught to be a law Sir, – Having read about the near-tragic result of a bicycle accident (“Doctors save life of teenage boy,” News in Brief, April 9), I wonder how many people have experienced near-misses from young cyclists in the area outside Yad Labanim in Ra’anana.These kids speed around on their battery-powered bikes, totally disregarding people in the vicinity.Is there no legislation about using this area as a speedway?SALLY SHAWKfar SabaCORRECTION In the opinion piece “That one interview” in today’s Jerusalem Post Magazine, the name of the writer was misspelled. It is Richard Oestermann. We regret the error.
