Letter to the Editor: Toby F. Block

Letter to the Editor,

I agree with Rabbi Baroff. However, true dialogue requires that all parties involved in the discussion will negotiate and act to keep the obligations imposed on them in the final agreement. “Dialogue” with a party that insists, “You have to make concessions, but we do not,” is not going to end the conflict.

Three decades have passed since the Oslo Accords were signed, giving the Palestinians their first-ever chance to live under the administration of leaders of their own choosing. But Israel isn’t any closer to having peace with the Palestinians than it was in 1993. Palestinian schools continue to teach children to hate Jews and the Palestinian Authority incites Palestinians in Judea and Samaria (“The West Bank”) to attack and kill Jews, honoring and rewarding those who answer the call. While claiming that an Israeli “blockade” prevented it from developing Gaza’s economy, Hamas spent a billion dollars building an extensive network of terror tunnels, embedded deeply among the Gazan populace, guaranteeing that Israel’s army couldn’t respond to Hamas’ attacks on Israel without killing Gazan non-combatants despite the IDF’s exemplary efforts to avoid collateral damage. And, of course, the current war between Israel and Hamas continues, with Hamas refusing to surrender its arms and control of Gaza, as called for in the agreement proposed by President Trump.

Toby F. Block, Atlanta