Falling into the trap

With the peace talks between Israel and the palestinians continuing, the press is falling into the trap laid by Abbas with regard to the so-called settlements. Take this line from a story this afternoon: "The Palestinians oppose the settlements because they eat up land they want for their future state. Some 300,000 Israelis live scattered among the West Bank's 2.5 million Palestinians. An additional 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city the Palestinians claim as their capital." Why does this ignore the 1.5 million arabs who live scattered among the Jewish Israelis in Israel proper? should the Israelis oppose having Arabs live scattered among them since it eats up land that the Israelis may want for Jewish settlers? Why is the presence of people of different religious background an issue for the Muslims but not for the Jews? Indeed, if there are 200,000 Israelis in East Jerusalem and about the same number of Arabs in that area, why is this to be the capital for the Arabs? shouldn't self determination apply here? Why does the media discuss these areas as if they are problematic unless they undergo ethnic cleansing to rid the areas of their Jewish inhabitants.

It is very clear that Abbas has no intention of moving forward with peace. This settlement nonsense is just an excuse to stop talking and to lay the blame on Israel.