There was a good episode of Foreign Correspondent about this in October, just after the Hamas attack, telling the same story, but here is a gift link to David Ignatius writing about it at length in the Washington Post.
There seems a very sharp divide between commentators who think we just have to forget about a two state solution now as being impossible to achieve (there was an interview with a former Australian ambassador from earlier this year re-played on Late Night Live recently, and he is in that camp), and those who still argue that it is impossible to see a resolution without some form of two state system that "works". David Frum, for one, has a twitter thread up arguing there is nothing to be done other than work with the Palestinian Authority as the "security partner" for Gaza.
On a side note: whenever I see video of the West Bank, I am always pretty amazed at how arid and unappealing the land looks as a place to live. It's surprising to me that anyone makes any sort of farming life out of it, but apparently they do. I guess my "why does anyone - Jewish or Muslim - want to live there anyway??" reaction is even higher for the Arabian peninsula countries, but I see that the total population there is about 80 million, which is quite a few to suggest they would be better off moving...
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On a side note: whenever I see video of the West Bank, I am always pretty amazed at how arid and unappealing the land looks as a place to live. It's surprising to me that anyone make any sort of farming life out of it, but apparently they do. I guess my "why does anyone - Jewish or Muslim - want to live there anyway??" reaction is even higher for the Arabian peninsula countries, but I see that the total population there is about 80 million, which is quite a few to suggest they would be better off moving...
I feel the same way. So much fuss over rocks and barrenness. "There's no place like home." Talk about a special connection to country! For most in the ME though there is nowhere to go. The days of mass immigration, displacing indigenous peoples at the point of a gun, are over. In some areas of South America that is still possible and is probably happening though well concealed, but generally most people have no choice but to stay where they were born.
Netanyahu got what he wanted: the elimination of a two state solution. What he didn't think through is an alternative. I think Israel has been exploiting global sympathy as a justification for doing anything it likes in Gaza and is now realizing that it can't do that. This may come back on Netanyahu, Israelis might end up blaming him for creating a situation that is much worse than before. Israel has no choice but an ongoing occupation which most probably will result in ongoing guerilla warfare in Gaza into the future.
There cannot be a two state solution when Israelis take Palestinians land and put them in prison on bogus charges..
Israel won't give up the illegal settlements so it cannot happen.
Homer, do you ever consider having a word in Hamas's ear about their doctrinal position on Israel as a state?
Steve,
Hamas cannot destroy Israel. They only succeeded murdering all those Israelis because of Israeli intelligence incompetence otherwise it was all a pretend show.
Ever wondered why Hamas has gained so much popularity in the West Bank.
There will never be a two state solution. Netanyahu has made certain of that.
"Hamas cannot destroy Israel."
True. So what was the point of a terror attack? To provoke all out Arab/Islamist war on Israel? An unlikely outcome. To provoke a retaliation that would go "too far" and cause loss of international support for Israel and a rise in Hamas support within the Palestinians? Possibly - but what a game to play with your own citizens.
I do not defend Netanyahu for his games either.
At the same time, it seems a tad unbalanced to accuse only him of preventing a two state solution.
My guess is Hamas is simply recoating what Jewiash terorists di in 1948 for the same reasons except Hamas has all that history on their side for their evil ways.
Oh who thought up about Hamas taking over from the PLO. Did n't that go well.
It is Netanyahu who has ensured Israeli houses are in place of Palestinian ones in the west Bank.
The problem there is neither side recognise the humanity of the other and so have no problem of murdering the other.
Clearly every Joo is Freddy Krueger. Thankfully they will lose this fight.
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