The Jewish Week’s editorial, “Mideast Peace Obstacle: No ‘Bahrain-er’” May 24, acknowledges that a serious commitment to major funding to the Palestinians (a part of the Trump administration’s Israel-Palestinian peace plan that will be presented at the upcoming Bahrain conference) may be persuasive at some point in achieving progress on the peace front. “But not, it seems, without some political skin in the game from Jerusalem.”
What exactly is the nature and extent of the “political skin” your editors are suggesting Israel give up? Shame on The Jewish Week for implying Israel is the obstacle to peace when history has shown it is Palestinian intransigence — then and now — that remains the biggest obstacle. Three times over the past 20 years Israel has offered the Palestinians their own state in a land-for-peace deal. All offers have been rejected out of hand. Since nothing else has worked in the past, Trump’s attempt to try “a bold new approach” should be met with your support and not with the derision and doubt that is the essence of your editorial. It is long overdue for the Palestinian leadership to step up and prove they are at least willing to negotiate.
Fresh Meadows, Queens
