Middle East Peace Talks

While the American media and the entire Internet has been ablaze with discussion over US President Obama's comments on the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates another friend of Obama's named Gates has been quite busy. Robert Gates, Defense Secretary has been in Israel discussing the best way to restart peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The exact details of what was discussed has not been made clear but it is believed that they did not go well because Israel once again flatly refused to halt the building of settlements on the West Bank.

Aside from the obvious wars settlement building is the most controversial aspect of Israel's relationship with its neighbours. The practice began after the six day war in 1967 when Jewish extremists who think it is their mission from God to clear all non-Jews from the land between the River Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea began setting up home in small settlements on the land that had been seized by the Israeli army. Although the Geneva Conventions explicitly prohibit the settling of civilians on land seized by an invading army the Israeli government has fully supported the practice. Over the years they have given money to help the settlers, use the army to forcibly clear areas for settlement, issued permits for illegal construction projects and connected the settlements to Israel's power and sanitation infrastructure alongside sending the police and the army to provide security on special "Jews only" roads that like the settlements to Israel. The Netanyahu government have also taken the irrational step of trying to differentiate between legal and illegal settlements which is impossible because any settlement on land seized in 1967 is indisputably illegal.

Israel's renewed refusal to adhere to international law threatens to undermine any hope of any future peace talks with the Palestinians. Both Hamas, the Palestinian's elected representatives and Fatah, the only Palestinian representatives that Israel will allow America to talk to have indicated that they will be unable to engage in peace talks with Israel until it halts settlements because otherwise it would mean that they are trying to talk peace with a neighbour who is actively involved in an ideologically committed to expanding into and settling in their rapidly shrinking territory.