To: Hawkmoon who wrote (6796 ) 4/21/2004 3:57:53 PM From: Nadine Carroll Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 15987 BS... Israel has continued to expand settlements during the entire period they "talked". From any objective perspective, as well as the extremely biased Palestinian one, this is a delaying tactic, not actual negotiation/arbitration. No, I don't think they have, beyond settlers trying to stick up caravans to inch outwards, and building some more houses for increases in population. What isn't mentioned is the Palestinians have also been trying to make land claims with hundreds of new settlements and home building - and of course demographically, with the world's highest birthrate, paid for by UNWRA. It goes on both sides, only one gets the bad press because the international community decided that the Pals "deserve" the territories, free of Jews. Just because you hear ngo's screaming about something, doesn't make it so. The building that I know about goes on in the settlement blocks by the Green Line, which are the ones Sharon is trying to keep, aside from Ariel. (Ariel is a problem since it's a big town in the middle of Samaria) Your notion about what Sharon is trying to claim is mistaken, and I wouldn't go to the bbc for clarification if I were you. As Chodoff notes, the 67 border became strangely sacred only after 67. A few posts ago you said you approved of Israel's right to annex the West Bank after they were invaded. So why do the settlements upset you so much? Remember the Pals had a deal that gave them 95% of the territories + land swaps; and Arafat broke it over right of return. You think the Pals should get a better deal now, as a reward for the Terror War? What message would that send?