Whenever Palestinian politicians feel cornered, they invariably call out the “street” (“Rumblings Beneath the Cave of the Patriarchs,” March 2). If Ma’arat HaMachpela [the Cave of the Patriarchs] and Kever Rachel [Rachel’s Tomb] are not Jewish national historic sites, then nothing is. Which is exactly the point of those faux protests: denial of any Jewish link to the land.
As if on cue, the West played its usual supportive role in the charade, with, among others, a U.S. State Department spokesman expressing “deep concern” at Israel’s physical improvement, but status-unchanging plans.
Truly an oft recurring, if utterly predictable, tragicomedy.
Syracuse, N.Y.
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