Dead but not yet buried

By Ted Belman

The chorus of voices announcing the death of the two-state solution is stronger.

Sara Honig in A new Mideastern religion
writes,

It’s a tad of a stretch to trust that it hadn’t dawned on any of them (US and EU) that the last thing Palestinians want is a Palestinian state dwelling in idyllic coexistence alongside a secure, accepted and recognized Israel. Honchos in both Ramallah and Gaza may expediently exploit the two-state slogan, but they never truly espoused the cause of two-state harmony.

Daniel Greenfield in Who Needs a Palestinian State? writes

And really why would they want a Palestinian state? If a state was actually created, the UNRWA would have to close up shop. A Palestinian state could no longer rely on foreign donors to fund the hundred thousand or so armed gangsters who form its “government” and its only real form of employment. And the same Muslim states who pass along “charity” to help fund the “martyr operations” that are behind much of the local terrorism would turn elsewhere.

Israel’s Last Chance of Survival

Israel can still survive, but to do so it must make it clear that further negotiations are off the table until there is a dramatic change in the situation on the ground. It must put a halt to the envoys and diplomatic missions. It must tear down the wall and annex the West Bank and Gaza. It must show the international corps of media propagandists, the frowning talking heads tsking the latest manufactured atrocity and the photographers handing out coins to Arab boys in exchange for tossing some stones at a soldier, to the door, and invite them to never come back. And the left must be pushed back to the margins, where they were until Oslo.

Ted Belman in The two-state solution is dead. Long live what?

So, though an ultimate agreement is not achievable because Israel won’t agree to the Arab terms and the Arabs won’t compromise on them, the Arabs still want to continue the process. Abbas is spared the necessity of compromising and why should he. The Palestinians are doing well economically with the cooperation of Israel and the financial support of the US and the EU. Why look for trouble.

For the U.S., it’s the only game in town. They are not prepared to pack their bags and go home or to change the paradigm. Better to go through the motions.