Your “Squandering the Moment” editorial on September 15 makes an important point about the need for partnership in any efforts at peace in the Middle East, but it overlooks the fact that peace talks require two willing partners, and clearly the Palestinians do not fit this definition.

When you noted that settlement construction “may play well in Israeli polls, but it has given Arab leaders a powerful excuse to do nothing,” you overlook the fact that the Arab world has squandered opportunities for generation after generation on excuses to do nothing regarding peace. Blaming Israeli actions for Palestinian obstruction is convenient and habitual. It provides a disingenuous protective cover for doing nothing, and conveniently ignores the obvious: For starters, a sizable proportion of the Palestinian population, led by the terrorist group Hamas, doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Unfortunately, as we have seen time and again since a two-state solution was first proffered in 1947, in the Palestinian world, there will always be something that Israel isn’t doing “right” to scuttle peace.

Daniel S. Mariaschin