Well, Boo Frikkin' Hoo

This sadly misinformed letter appears in today's NatPo:

Re: Israel Signals Invasion, July 11.
What’s being conveniently overlooked by most of the news media that I’ve been consuming is that new Jewish settlements keep popping up, and once they’re up, they stay up. The entire process is thus insidiously skewed against the Palestinians. 

What chance do the Palestinians have of achieving statehood, when their land is constantly being annexed? All it does is encourage extremist zealots to fire rockets, however low-tech and useless, into Israel, which, in turn, prompts the Israelis to respond in kind.
Frank Sterle Jr., White Rock, B.C.

Yeah, if only Israel stopped, er, annexing all the Palestinians' land, Hamas would knock it off with the rockets. (If you believe that, I have some twin towers in NYC and a Buddha statue in Afghanistan to sell you.)

Update: Here's the letter I sent in response:

Letter-writer Frank Sterle, Jr. is vexed because Israel is "annexing" land that belongs to Palestinians, thereby inciting the wrath and missile fire of Hamas, and making it increasingly unlikely that the Palestinians will be granted their hearts' desire, i.e. statehood.

 

Please let me be the first to assure Mr. Sterle, Jr. that the only sort of statehood that is likely to find favour with the Palestinian unity government of Fatah and Hamas is one which would replace a state of Israel--all of it--with a state of Palestine. Or, in the words of what has become an all-too familiar chant on Toronto streets these days: "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!"

 

I'm sure that even Mr. Sterle, Jr. can see that exchanging a flawed but dynamic and functioning Western democracy with yet another despotic Arab basket case under the draconian rule of shariah law would not be a net benefit to Palestinians, to the Middle East, or to the world. It would, however, greatly benefit Iran, which has been plotting Israel's disappearance for quite some time; Iran, not surprisingly, likes to pretend that it is all for the sake of "Palestine," when in reality it's in aid of Iran becoming the most dominant regime in the region, if not the world.