Certain facts on the ground were ignored
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Re “Abbas or Hamas? Choose and lose,” Opinion, June 14
Aaron David Miller defines the plight of the divided Palestinians as the failure to pursue a moderate course that would be acceptable to Israel and America. He neglects to mention a crucial slice of history that would suggest that the root problem blocking a viable two-state solution is Israel’s campaign after the 1967 war to gain sovereignty over the West Bank.
The Greater Israel movement that emerged with the occupation of the West Bank sought to extend Israel’s borders to the Jordan River by constructing settlements, a process termed “creating facts on the ground.” Bulldozers were steadily advancing on Palestinian territory even as they talked.
It is not surprising that there has been a terrible exacerbation of violence, an inflamed national resistance, intensified hatred of Israel in the Arab-Muslim world and the impossibility of a two-state agreement.
Why, then, does an expert such as Miller fail to include this vital record?
BENJAMIN SOLOMON
Evanston, Ill.
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