<Current Newsweek article on settlements

“However you do the calculation, it doesn’t add up to better peace prospects. Even Washington, Israel’s closest ally, regards the settlements as a growing problem. Just last month President George W. Bush said, “Israeli settlement activity must stop.” Yet thousands of new housing units are under construction in the West Bank, and Jewish ideologues have thrown up 40 new outposts since Ariel Sharon was elected last year. Although Sharon would rather focus on Yasir Arafat’s peace-deal breaches, Palestinians argue that settlement expansion fuels popular rage toward Israel and Israelis, hindering negotiations and making a final peace deal increasingly remote.”

“Ariel sits on about 1,500 acres but has already appropriated 6,000 more for expansion. “In the Bible,” says Nachman, “there is no West Bank, there is no Green Line and no occupied territory.”

Arf