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Many in the U.S., particularly Democrats and Jewish liberals, espouse the two-state “solution” as the only means to a peaceful end to the Arab-Israeli conflict. This has been the official position of the U.S. for many years and a bit more recently for Israeli leaders, as well. But to the contrary, the Palestinians have rejected this solution on multiple occasions. Leaders including [Yasir] Arafat and [Mahmoud] Abbas have rejected multiple Israeli proposals for just such a solution. Even unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza has not moved this solution forward — to the contrary, it has only exacerbated the situation.

Should Israel attempt a similar unilateral disengagement and withdrawal from the West Bank, does anyone honestly believe that this would miraculously bring an end to this seemingly endless conflict?

Assuming the answer is no, isn’t it time to try a different solution to the conflict? I do not have an answer to this conflict, only the observation that when the two-state solution repeatedly leads to failure, doesn’t it make sense to move on to another solution? For the U.S., the U.N. and the rest of the world to continue with the two-state gospel and yet expect a different outcome is the true definition of insanity.

 

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