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Israeli Policy Expert Says Talk of a Two-State Solution Is Dangerously Premature
(JTA) - Kobi Michael interviewed by Andrew Silow-Carroll Former deputy director general and head of the Palestinian division in Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs, Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said in an interview that the Palestinian people are not yet ready to accept the idea of a nation state of the Jewish people. Nor does he think the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of 88-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas has the will, capability, or credibility to govern effectively in Gaza, let alone the West Bank. "There is a big difference between the Israeli approach to the two-state solution and the Palestinian approach. In Israeli eyes it means a nation state of the Jewish people, and Palestine is the nation state of the Palestinian people." "This is not the Palestinian perspective, where Palestine is the nation state of the Palestinian people and Israel is the state of citizens without any religious, ethnic or national characteristics. This is the core problem of the conflict: the Palestinian refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish people for self-determination. They regard Judaism only as a religion. If there is no Jewish people, there is no right for self-determination....So the idea of a two-state solution is a very illusionary idea, at least for the time being under the current circumstances." "I think at the end of the day Israel will become much stronger after this war. And I think that the vast majority of Israeli society is much more sober with regard to the Palestinians and the reality that we live in. I think that the Israeli consensus is much broader now. The resilience is very impressive, and I think that the Jewish people and the State of Israel will be able to repair itself and prosper and to live in security for the next eight decades."