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Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/09/08/two-state-solution-israel-palestine-miliband-west-bank/
Britain's Futile West Bank Sanctions Will Not Resurrect the Two-State Solution
(Telegraph-UK) David Blair - British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday declared that Israeli communities in the West Bank were designed to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state." But what if a Palestinian state is already dead and buried as a practical possibility and what if Hamas's terrorism was an equally effective undertaker? The cold reality is that the "two-state solution" has slipped beyond the realms of the possible. Not even the most Left-wing and Miliband-friendly government that Israel might ever elect is going to drag tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes to make way for a Palestinian state, partly because of what happened after the only remotely comparable precedent. In 2005, Ariel Sharon evicted 8,000 Israelis living in Gaza and demolished their homes. Within two years, Hamas had seized full control and turned Gaza into a giant launchpad for firing rockets at Israel, starting a series of wars that culminated in the atrocity of Oct. 7, 2023, and the brutal conflict that has followed. Israelis can hardly be blamed for drawing what seems to them to be the obvious conclusion: doing what Miliband and the international community want, and giving up territory and removing Israelis, does not bring peace. On the contrary, many believe that it merely creates more opportunities for terrorism. As for the sanctions that Britain will now impose, these communities have never depended on exports to the UK. The value of the trade that will now be prevented is probably tiny. No wonder that British diplomats are reported to have privately assured the U.S. administration that the sanctions would be symbolic with minimal practical effect. After the trauma of Oct. 7, no Israeli government is going to cede control over this territory to what it would regard as a mortal enemy. Not a single serious contender for the prime ministership at Israel's coming election is in favor of Palestinian statehood.