An op-ed piece in today's New York Times says, "Indeed, after more than 100 years of saying no to each other in every way possible, it seems as if Israel and the Palestinians are not capable today of wanting 'anything' at all."
One hundred years ago, "Israel" and "the Palestinians" didn't exist. Israel was established in 1948; 100 years ago, it was an area controlled by Turkey. "The Palestinians" 100 years ago would have included Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Jews. If by "Israel" and "the Palestinians" the writer means Palestinian and then Israeli Jews and the Palestinian Arabs, he's still wrong when he says they've been "saying no to each other in every way possible" for more than 100 years. The Palestinian Arabs may have been saying no, but the Israelis have been saying yes. They said yes to the 1947 U.N. partition plan; they said yes to the 1978 Camp David peace agreement; they said yes to the 1993 Oslo Accords. The Israelis keep saying yes and the Arabs, with their continued violence against Israel, keep saying no.
Pretty: A dispatch from New Paltz in the metro section of today's New York Times concludes with a quote that describes it as "one of the prettiest landscapes on earth." Well, at least the Times publisher and its executive editor can't be accused of not making a contribution to increasing the property values in the town where, according to the 1999 book "The Trust," they both have weekend homes.
New In Letters: The "Letters About Smartertimes" section was updated yesterday afternoon with reader comments on topics including brightwork and the Butcher of Beijing. The "Letters about the Times" section was also updated yesterday afternoon with reader comments on topics including Red Square, lawsuits in Mississippi, and electricity regulation in Brazil.