‘Obstacles to Peace,’ U.S. Envoy Tells Jewish Settlers

The top U.S. diplomat in Jerusalem told Jewish settlers of Israeli-occupied Arab lands today they are “an obstacle to peace,” their spokesman said.

U.S. Consul General Philip Wilcox told the four settler leaders, all American citizens, that Washington opposes their settlement of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The settlers said a two-hour meeting at the consulate in Jewish West Jerusalem had failed to convince Wilcox the 90,000 Jews and 1.75 million Arabs of the occupied lands deserve to be treated with even-handedness.

“What was discouraging to me was to see that when pressed on many examples of unfairness and inequity . . . he consistently fell back on this policy of our communities being an obstacle to peace,” Marc Zell, formerly of Washington, told Reuters.

A consulate statement said Wilcox told the group that Washington views settlements as a unilateral decision to use the land and resources without negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians.

The settlers assailed U.S. human rights reports they said ignored violations against Jews in the territories. They also accused the consulate of hampering peace efforts by encouraging visiting U.S. dignitaries to meet Arabs and not Jews there.

Israeli settlers have killed Palestinians and gone on rampages through Arab villages destroying property, but Zell insisted these represent an extremist fringe.

“There has been a tendency by State Department representatives here and abroad to see residents of our communities as a fanatic element. It’s simply not the case,” said Zell, a lawyer.