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Source: http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.09.26/oped2b.bothsides.state.html
The Failed State of the Palestinians
(Forward) - Shlomo Avineri Without a tough strategic decision to enforce what Max Weber called the hallmark of sovereignty - the monopoly on the legitimate use of force - it is highly unlikely that Palestinians will be able to achieve statehood. Most Israelis are now reconciled to living side-by-side in peace with a Palestinian state. But no country can accept the emergence on its doorstep of a failed state - akin to Lebanon during the 1980s or present-day Liberia - in which militias, armed gangs, and various terrorist organizations act freely in defiance of legitimate state authority.