Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Israel has as much right to a nation-state as Palestine, or Iraq, or Iran, or India, or the United States, or Great Britain, or Germany, or Russia or Turkey.

I must assert this because I am a radical peacenik and member of the Thomas Merton Center. The creation of Israel involved acts that can and should be criticized. But that is true of every nation. The Netanyahu government is committing acts that we must oppose.

The article in the February 2019 New People recommends ‘One Democratic State’ as the basis for a solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict. This will not happen without a war with hundreds of thousands of deaths unless the aspirations of all are recognized. The article seems to regard Israel as inherently colonialist. This is rhetoric and counterproductive.

The two-state concept is not an easy solution. But it may be the only solution, regardless of Netanyahu’s work to prevent implementation. Jerusalem obviously should be the capital of both nations.

Love and Peace,

Jon Robison

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