Settlements not to blame for conflict

On Dec 13, the day Sarah McDonald's guest column “Settlements, attacks drive out Palestinians” was published, a Palestinian terrorist stabbed, seriously wounding, a 22-year old Israeli woman in the Gush Etzion area of the West Bank. Situated some 10 miles south of Jerusalem, Gush Etzion was legally purchased (1920s) by Jews and subsequently developed. Because of repeated acts of Arab terrorism and massacre, the Jewish residents were forced to abandon the area several times until it was conquered by Jordan (1948).

The area came back under Israeli rule in 1967, when Israel won a war launched by its Arab neighbors. Several Jewish villages have since been rebuilt. Nevertheless, they are characterized as “settlements.”

I was affected by one such incident in April while my son was visiting the village of Bat Ayin in Gush Etzion. Upon hearing screaming and sirens, my son, immediately suspecting a terror attack, hid in a public bathroom. It turned out an ax-wielding Palestinian entered the village, attacked a group of boys playing basketball, instantly killing one by smashing his skull, and severely wounding another. Every week, there are several attacks and drive-by shootings against Jews in the West Bank.

In 2000-01 and 2008, Palestinians were offered an independent Palestinian state on some 97 percent of the West Bank in contiguous territory free of Israeli settlements. They refused.

Not settlements, but decades-old Palestinian intransigence and rejection of Israel's existence are responsible for continuation of this conflict.

Dr. Pnina Luban

Ames