I submitted a letter to the editor immediately after the Portland City Council’s vote on divestment, expressing alarm. It was courteous, timely, short and never published.

Noting that the controversy continues on the editorial pages as it rages in the world – including the Kristallnacht-like attacks on Jews in the Netherlands – I will try again.

David Elowitch’s Nov. 8 Press Herald letter (“Wishful thinking on Gaza conflict“) rightly challenges readers to find a leader of “Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, PA, who is willing to go on the record for a two-state solution.” Readers considering that clear-eyed suggestion might review Bill Clinton’s recent remarks (available on YouTube) made while campaigning for Kamala Harris in Michigan. He chokes up as he weighs what has been lost, as he recalls the startlingly pro-Palestinian details of the two-state agreement that he helped negotiate, when president of the United States, between Israel and the Palestinians.

He recalls Yassir Arafat’s promise that he would live up the agreement and notes that, on that score, he was lied to by that leader. Clinton then describes his suspicion that “Hamas didn’t care about a homeland for the Palestinians. They wanted to kill Israelis and make Israel uninhabitable.” Finally, Mr. Clinton notes that the residents of the kibbutzim bordering Gaza were the most pro-two-state-solution of all Israelis and that “Hamas butchered them.”

A two-state solution will still be possible, someday, but not with Hamas. Peace is not its goal. It has different plans.

Edward Kane
Cape Elizabeth