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Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/state+solution+illusion/1635387/story.html
The Two-State Solution Illusion
[National Post-Vancouver Sun-Canada] While Ottawa's political leaders were meeting on Tuesday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, a group of businessmen in Calgary met with Khaled Abu Toameh, the Arab-born West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. And while politicians condemned Israel's settlements as an obstacle to a peaceful "two-state solution," Toameh couldn't help but chuckle. "I laugh when they talk about a two-state solution," he said. "It's unreal. It's not going to work." He dismisses it because, as those living in the territories well know, the Palestinians cannot even co-exist with themselves, let alone with Israel. "Abbas doesn't even have power in downtown Ramallah, where he works and lives," he says. Were Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to endorse the two-state plan tomorrow, it would be utterly meaningless. "There is no partner on the Palestinian side," Toameh says. Israel's West Bank settlements are no obstacle, he adds; they are a red herring: a minor issue that Jerusalem will easily handle - based on its readiness to dismantle its settlements in the past - when the moment is right.