Why is Israel still blind to settler violence against Palestinians?
Despite resolutions by Israeli administrations to adopt the 2003 Road map for Peace and the Sason report on illegal West Bank outposts, settler violence against Palestinians continues unabated.
When the prime minister of Israel announces that there will be "no withdrawals" and "no concessions," and when the Likud announces that the 2009 speech in which Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the two-state solution is "no longer relevant," they are discarding out of hand a clear decision by the Israeli government.
In May of 2003, the government of then-Likud Chairman Ariel Sharon (in which Netanyahu served as one of the top ministers) decided to adopt the so-called Road Map — a document issued by the office of US President George W. Bush. The document, which Bush subsequently turned into a UN Security Council resolution, states emphatically, “A settlement, negotiated between the parties, will result in the emergence of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.”
