West Bank Businesses: A View From the P.L.O.
Re “West Bank Shopping Center, a Symbol of Coexistence, Is Shaken by Violence” (Gush Etzion Junction Journal, Dec. 15):
Portraying Israeli settlements and their businesses as hubs of coexistence is absurd. The settlements have always been primary obstacles to peace in international political forums, and major impediments to Palestinian economic growth. In fact, Israeli settlements stifle Palestine’s economy, according to Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.
Moreover, portraying settler leaders as champions of coexistence and peace is preposterous, considering that those settlers live in illegal settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.
