Following my posts on the Israeli development of the Maskiot settlement (7/29/08) and the report by Israel advocacy group Peace Now on settlement expansion (8/29/08), I wasn't surprised to see an article in the New York Times, "Support for 2-State Plan Erodes As Year Winds Down on Talks" (9/4/08).
The article states that hopes are eroding among moderate, pragmatic, secular Palestinians for an agreement on statehood by the end of the year and in general. Some are proposing dismantling the Palestinian Authority to "...expose the reach of Israel’s continued occupation of territories it conquered in the 1967 war and to make Israel bear the direct responsibility and cost until a political solution is found."
The article states, "Prominent mainstream Palestinians are increasingly warning that if they fail soon to achieve the kind of state they want — sovereign and independent, with East Jerusalem as its capital — they will opt instead for a one-state solution based on a long-term fight for equal rights within the state of Israel, a struggle they compare with what took place in South Africa."
"But what Palestinians view as the main obstacle to the realization of the two-state solution is Israel’s continued settlement construction in parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, strengthening a 40-year-old enterprise that was intended to guarantee a permanent Israeli presence and control."
“Where will the Palestinian state rise up?” asked Qaddurah Fares, a grass-roots Fatah leader in Ramallah, in an interview early this summer. “The Israeli nation is inside us already.”
The article continues, "Palestinian public opinion polls show a clear majority still favors a two-state solution and the Fatah establishment remains committed to it." However, "Parts of Fatah are already coming over to binationalism, particularly among the Fatah young guard..."
According to Peace Now, 32.4 percent of the settlements are located on private Palestinian land and "the data shows a pattern of illegal seizure of Palestinian land that the Israeli government has been reluctant to acknowledge or prosecute..."
The article states, "Prominent mainstream Palestinians are increasingly warning that if they fail soon to achieve the kind of state they want — sovereign and independent, with East Jerusalem as its capital — they will opt instead for a one-state solution based on a long-term fight for equal rights within the state of Israel, a struggle they compare with what took place in South Africa."
"But what Palestinians view as the main obstacle to the realization of the two-state solution is Israel’s continued settlement construction in parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, strengthening a 40-year-old enterprise that was intended to guarantee a permanent Israeli presence and control."
“Where will the Palestinian state rise up?” asked Qaddurah Fares, a grass-roots Fatah leader in Ramallah, in an interview early this summer. “The Israeli nation is inside us already.”
The article continues, "Palestinian public opinion polls show a clear majority still favors a two-state solution and the Fatah establishment remains committed to it." However, "Parts of Fatah are already coming over to binationalism, particularly among the Fatah young guard..."
According to Peace Now, 32.4 percent of the settlements are located on private Palestinian land and "the data shows a pattern of illegal seizure of Palestinian land that the Israeli government has been reluctant to acknowledge or prosecute..."
There's no question that the continued spread of settlements, which increase roadblocks and checkpoints, make the establishment of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state impossible.
Gaza is ruled by Hamas, which advocates religious fundamentalism, maximalism, suicide bombings and kassam rockets fired into Israeli cities such as Sderot. Hamas has little to offer anyone, Israeli or Palestinian, in terms of a peaceful resolution and a decent future for both peoples. But the Palestinian Authority is ruled by President Mahmoud Abbas, the most pragmatic leader Israel could hope for as a negotiating partner. With Fatah and the majority of the West Bank population committed to the two-state solution, it would behoove Israel to increase the chances of peace, show the Palestinians that there is an alternative to Hamas, and strengthen Abbas by stopping settlement development and dismantling illegal outposts. That's not enough to forge a resolution overnight, but at least it would help stop the erosion of hope for, and commitment to, a two-state solution among the Palestinians.
Photos: 1) Construction in Maale Adumim, West Bank, New York Times, 4/19/05.
2) Arab and Jewish women from the Women In Black group protest against the occupation, 12/28/07, near the home of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Getty Images.
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