A small slip (again and again) by the BBC but it has consequences

A

Arnold/Frimet Roth
This Ongoing War
28 September '10

Our headline says "slip" but we don't believe that's what has happened.

Israel's self-imposed ten-month long moratorium on construction in Judea and Samaria expired on Sunday. If its purpose was to encourage the Palestinian Authority leadership to join discussions with Israel on a peace process, it was no great success. For most of those ten months, Mr Abbas the head of Fatah and of the PA flatly refused; then agreed to indirect talks where the Israelis would not be permitted to be in the same room at the same time as the Israelis; and then - just a few weeks ago - consented to actual face-to-face talks which started earlier in September.

Large parts of the Israeli public never understood why we would be expected to stop constructing houses, schools and communities in towns that we regard as our home. And having nevertheless agreed to do exactly that, many of us never understood why the other side's refusal to then sit down and talk was accepted at large (by the media, by international agencies, by most countries' diplomats) with almost complete equanimity. But that's how it was.

Now the parties are talking, and every rational person hopes they will find a way to reach common ground and a basis for peace.

Which brings us to the BBC.

(Read full post)


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