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Is "Two-State" the Best Solution?

[Miami Herald] Uri Dromi - The idea of two states was first proposed by the British, who had ruled Palestine since 1918. They created the Peel Commission of Inquiry, which, in 1937, recommended that the country be partitioned. If the Arabs were smart, they would have accepted, because today they would not only have Gaza and the West Bank, but good parts of present-day Israel as well. However, while the Jews reluctantly agreed, the Arabs rejected the Partition Plan, and the rest is history. When Israel, under Ariel Sharon, dropped the concept of reciprocity and pulled out of Gaza unilaterally, the expectations were that in Gaza, the Palestinians would establish a mini-state, which would receive generous amounts of aid from the well-wishing world community and eventually take the process peacefully into the West Bank as well. Instead, there emerged an entity inspired by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Hizbullah and Iran, ruled by Hamas, which swears to destroy Israel. No wonder the Israelis don't want this to spill over to the West Bank. With all due respect to the commitment of President Obama to the two-state solution, this seems like an uphill battle. While I still think it's the best possible solution, every day it becomes more difficult to realize. Some solution will eventually emerge. I believe that Jordan will take responsibility for the West Bank and Egypt for Gaza. Why? Because of their fear that Hamas, the true force in these areas, will undermine their own regimes. Is this the ideal solution? Definitely not, because it leaves the Palestinian national aspirations unfulfilled. But we don't live in an ideal world. Col. (res.) Uri Dromi was the chief education officer of the Israeli Air Force, director of the Israel Government Press Office during the Rabin and Peres governments (1992-96), and former director of International Outreach at the Israel Democracy Institute.
2009-04-17 06:00:00
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