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How Israelis Now View a Two-State Solution
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - Most Israelis - even those who would like to see a two-state solution - do not view it as remotely possible, at least not for the foreseeable future. Much too often, Israel's friends fail to understand how events that traumatize the country - such as the ones the country is currently experiencing - are not simply erased or forgotten when they end. This all has an impact on how Israelis look at the world. People just don't forget missile alert sirens every few minutes sending them scurrying to shelters, they don't forget the insecurity felt when running to get their kids into a safe room, they don't forget the sense of helplessness that accompanies it all. Nor do they forget that some of their neighbors sided with their enemies and turned on them. Hamas has so far fired more than 2,000 rockets indiscriminately at Israel, causing 11 deaths, injuring dozens and causing substantial harm to property. Imagine what things would look like if there were no Iron Dome. Some abroad wonder what happened to the Israel that they remembered and idealized, the Israel of the kibbutzim, Gold Meir, Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin. Reality intervened - a tough and often brutal reality that forced people to adjust their view, to reassess what they thought was and was not possible. Israelis adjusted their thinking in the face of changing reality. That tough and brutal reality is hitting again now with unusual intensity and will shape the psyche of the nation for years to come.