Editor:

I was optimistic about Walter Isaacson’s and others’ efforts to improve the Palestinian economy when I arrived in East Jerusalem at the end of May and read about the Palestinian Investment Conference that had just taken place. Traveling and talking to people in the West Bank, the two Jerusalems (East and West Jerusalem are very different) and Israel changed my mind.

Most people said they did not see the Palestinian economy improving because of the 607 obstacles to movement in the West Bank plus around 500 roving check points per month, the 41-year Israeli military occupation, and the separation wall/fence which snakes around the 148 settlements housing approximately 480,000 Jews. A healthy economy needs free movement.

Settlements are Jewish-only housing developments built in the West Bank that are protected by Israeli Defense Force soldiers and often are subsidized. They are illegal under International Law, 4th Geneva Convention. 

We saw a number of cases where the wall separated a town from its farmland and divided a town in order to protect a settlement. The wall also separates some Palestinian towns from each other, making trade difficult. Another issue is Israel’s not allowing Palestinians to export products that compete with Israeli products. Much of what is labeled West Bank produce is actually grown by Jewish settlers.

Mr. Isaacson said in your July 8th article that, “We know the solution to the Palestinian-Israeli problem: It is a two-state solution.” 

I do not see how that is possible, looking at an April 2008 UN map.  The Palestinians want a state per the 1967 borders referred to as the Green Line along their north/west/south border. However, the separation wall, which is about 3 and one-half times as long as the Green Line, snakes around settlements and water resources. 

The Israeli government plan is to incorporate all the land and water west of the wall and Palestinian East Jerusalem into Israel. Jewish settlers have taken over large segments of the fertile agricultural land along the eastern side of the West Bank, leaving Palestine no east border.

The solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict requires the international community to hold the Israeli government to international laws and UN resolutions, and to treat Palestinians as equals.
 
Cathleen Krahe
Carbondale