The writer of the Dec. 9 letter, "Israel has no blame for lack of peace talks," responding to the effort of our government to encourage the Palestinians and Israeli's to restart peace talks, faults the Palestinians. I disagree.

As a starter, Israel announced the unilateral building of 3,000 housing units in Jerusalem, a city very much part of the peace process.

The Palestinians would not even able to build one housing unit position. With 550 Israeli check points in the West Bank, the Palestinians cannot move without the latters permission to get to work, farms, hospitals and schools. Home demolitions continue and Palestinians lose more land to make room for the settlements. Life is worse in the Gaza Strip. This ongoing to nowhere peace process can be compared to a warden bargaining with a chained prisoner. Israel is a signator to the Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions and is ignoring both in their systematic oppression of the Palestinians. The Arab Spring seems to have been forgotten here.

Our country could bring more balance to the peace process by demanding that Israel recognize their treaty obligations.