JERUSALEM -- The political battle continues in the Middle East through gun barrels rather than across negotiating tables.
At issue is not peace, but piece, as in land and water. The Palestinian people are living on land taken by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel's claim to the land is promoted by a radical group of settlers and ultranationalists who insist on keeping the ever-expanding settlements.
Since the Oslo Accords, Israel has cut and sliced the occupied territories into tiny pieces by building roads, fences, settlements, irrigation and water systems, and restricted areas in ways that undermine the political and economic viability of a future Palestinian state. The resulting bits and pieces of land amount to less than the state of Rhode Island.