LOOOOOOOOL! Thomas Friedman is the authority on whom you hang your hat? You CAN’T be serious! No one is that pathetic.

as you just reiterated, it’s not facts you’re seeking

This is a lie. DO NOT PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH. And do not lie making claims about what I believe which have no bearing on reality. It is you who never seem to muster any evidence to support your claims. You do not provide facts. You provide a tendentious interpretation of political history. This is opinion, not facts.

The continued construction in the settlements is almost completely (with the exception of about 20 buildings in Maskiot, in the Jorday valley) in a small number of large settlements very close to the Green Line

This is either a product of yr own ignorance or lying or both. You are talking about “settlements,” when the vast majority of expansion is occuring in outposts which are certainly not very close to the Green Line. But again nice try.

Modi’in Illit, and Beitar Illit. Even the Palestinians have basically accepted that these can stay in Israeli territory

This is simply not true. If I recall, Modiin Illit is built on the land of the villages of Nilin (or possibly Bilin, can’t remember). No Palestinians & certainly not the ones who actually own the land stolen fr. them accept the premise you claim they accept. And certainly no Palestinian has accepted the notion that the settlers may expand upon settlement activity in this contested terrain.

The only settlements which some Palestinians accept as possibly reverting to Israeli control after a settlement are the oldest ones in Kiryat Arba and the immediate vicinity.

If it weren’t for them, there would be an additional 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem… perhaps not the outcome wished for by the Palestinians

Palestinians don’t give a fig what Jews do to West Jerusalem. If Israel wants to settle another 100,000 Jews in W. Jerusalem more power to them. Similarly, Israel shouldn’t care what Palestinians do in E. Jerusalem. Now, if those 100,000 Jews want to settle in E. Jerusalem, then certainly the Arabs will have a problem w. this just as they have a problem w. settling them on stolen Palestinian land fr. Modiin Ilit.

The constuction in Jerusalem is also almost all in areas the Palestinians have already agreed will remain Israeli.

Saying the same thing 2x doesn’t make it any truer. It was a lie the first time you said it & a lie the 2nd. BTW, Maaleh Adumim, is another area for which Palestinians have never agreed that it would remain within Israel. It is perhaps the largest land bloc where Israel is building or intending to build new settlements.

The separation wall cuts into 4.5% of the West Bank

Statistics are funny in the hands of hasbaraniks. Notice they never provide any source for theirs.

This is another lie. It not only cuts off at least 15% of Palestinian land which is on the other side of the Wall, it also physically prevents Palestinians fr. accessing other land as well. So the total land rendered unusable to Palestinians exceeds 15%. My sources are Peace Now & others I’d be happy to link to if another reader can’t come up w. the proper links.

Having spent a quarter century of my life being a fervent member of Israel’s peace camp

I can’t tell you how many times right-wing Israel supporters tell me they have liberal politics, have been life long supporters of the peace movement, etc. Do you guys learn these moves in hasbara school or what? Before we accept yr claim at face value provide yr bona fides. Since you’re a writer would you mind providing us a link to your so called writing evincing burning passion for the Israeli peace camp? You’d like us to believe you were a liberal mugged by reality a la Irving Kristol. When the truth is likely you were if anything a center-rightist who merely turned farther right.

I flatly & totally reject yr claim that Palestinians as an entity reject Israel’s historical presence in Jerusalem. There are some Palestinians who feel this way just as there are many radical Jews who reject the notion of the existence of a Palestinian people or an Arab claim to the Dome of the Rock or whatever. There are lunatics on both sides of the divide. But yr error is claiming that all Palestinians believe any particular idea which it is convenient for you to pin on them.

I frankly have no interest in what Tom Friedman says about anything except as a pt of departure for developing my own critical perspective. He is not an expert on what Palestinians believe.

I have a rule here which you seem to have missed. Ask me any question you want, ONCE (not twice, not three times). I make no promise to answer all or them or even any of them. If the question is interesting to me; if you ask it in a format that indicates you genuinely want to know what I think (as opposed to beginning an argument or trying to point out the inadequacies of my views) I will answer based on the criteria below.

I don’t view this blog as a college seminar or debating society in which you get to ask questions and then we begin a debate in which you point out the superiority of yr views or inferiority of mine. I simply don’t have the time to do things this way.

(Also, you might be interested to hear that the two Ilit towns, which are Haredi settlements, serve as the demgraphic valves for the enormous birth rate of the Jerusalem Haredim. If it weren’t for them, there would be an additional 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem… perhaps not the outcome wished for by the Palestinians.)

The constuction in Jerusalem is also almost all in areas the Palestinians have already agreed will remain Israeli. And see Bill Clinton’s line of dec. 24th 2000.

The water story is simply not true. The fact are otherwise. For example, did you know that about 100,000 Arabs in East Jerusalem simply steal their water? This is a case currently in the courts, so it’s not as if you can tell me I”m wrong. It’s a matter I’ve been discussing with our top water management officials.

The separation wall cuts into 4.5% of the West Bank, most of them around those two Illit towns, and Jerusalem. That leaves the other 95.5% outside them. If the Palestinians ever respond positively to any proposal put before them, we’ll be out of there, and ENORMOUSLY relieved. By the way, just last week Abbas said he now regrets he didn’t take what Olmert offered him last September. But it’s always that way, isn’t it.

As for the war crimes – or better, crimes against humaity – I agree with you. Having spent a quarter century of my life being a fervent member of Israel’s peace camp, the campaign of mass murder run by the Palestinians earlier this decade did sort of put a damper on things; I now would never support some of the sort of things I hoped and prayed for ten years ago. Most Israelis would agree with me, if you go according to the result of elections.

And continuing to take the lion’s share of potable water for filling its swimming pools and watering its gardens while the Palestinians struggle to irrigate their crops and have enough drinking water.

And then there’s the separation wall and road siystem, both of which cut Palestinians off from their land.

If you would like more examples, let me know.

Netanyahu has refused to stop building settlements. It’s been described in some places as two people negotiating over a pizza. He wants to talk about who will get the pizza, but as the other person talks, Netanyahu eats, and eats.

We could also talk about war crimes and how they get in the way of peace negotiations.