A road is not a road map

Reports that Israel is constructing a road across central Gaza (‘‘Israelis building new road to the sea’’, 23/2) suggest that failed policies of division, containment and control continue to hold sway.

It is time for Israel not only to heed the warnings issued by the United Nations and the United States, but to engage positively with proposals that accord with international law and human rights.

For a start that means formal recognition of Palestine and the admission that its West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements are illegal.

It’s clearing these roadblocks, not building a cross–Gaza roadway, that would open the pathway to peace for both Israel and Palestine.

Tom Knowles, Parkville