Tuesday, October 28, 2003

A Single-State Solution For Israel?: "Israel's situation is 'close to hopeless,' writes a prominent American Jewish historian, who, with others, now believes the only solution to permanent bloodshed is to form a single nation of Israelis and Palestinians. It is a transforming idea, one openly discussed by Israelis and Palestinians appalled by what they are becoming."

Given enough time, as more Palestinians are killed or exiled, as more of their homes are demolished and as more settlers arrive in the Occupied Territories, there will be no Palestinians left and the whole of the OT will be Judaized. But we are far from reaching that point yet and I think the pronouncement of the death of the two-state solution is very much premature. Uri Avnery argues that it is a dangerous idea, which makes peace even more difficult. The difficulty with the two-state solution is not its likely efficacy in bringing about a political solution to the conflict, but its failure of penetration where it counts, in the domestic populations of the US and Israel. In this sense loose talk about a single-state solution can be seen as yet another distraction, deliberate or not. A better use of media space right now, especially in the US, would be publicity and debate regarding the latest "Geneva" peace proposals.

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