One State or Two?

[oberliner]

Many analysts have long warned that the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel is almost dead as a result of Israel’s construction of the West Bank barrier, the continuous attacks against Palestinians and the constant rejection to dismantle Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

And earlier this week, Khaled Mashaal, the exiled leader of Hamas’ political wing, warned of a third Intifada that would begin within six months if the West failed to come up with a political solution to Palestine.

“We give six months to open real political horizons. We agreed on the national accord to establish a Palestinian state, with the June 4, 1967 borders,” said Mashaal.

http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=12821

[pelsar]

1. wheres the confusion?

israel wants two states..hamas wants one.....they've been very clear about this....

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[cali]

3. Nonsense.

Most Palestinians want a functioning nation. And there's certainly a lively argument going on about whether the Israelis ever made viable offers.

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. The Myth of the Generous Offer: Distorting the Camp David negotiations

By Seth Ackerman from FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting)
link:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1113

snip: "Although some people describe Israel's Camp David proposal as practically a return to the 1967 borders, it was far from that. Under the plan, Israel would have withdrawn completely from the small Gaza Strip. But it would annex strategically important and highly valuable sections of the West Bank--while retaining "security control" over other parts--that would have made it impossible for the Palestinians to travel or trade freely within their own state without the permission of the Israeli government (Political Science Quarterly, 6/22/01; New York Times, 7/26/01; Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories, 9-10/00; Robert Malley, New York Review of Books, 8/9/01).

The annexations and security arrangements would divide the West Bank into three disconnected cantons. In exchange for taking fertile West Bank lands that happen to contain most of the region’s scarce water aquifers, Israel offered to give up a piece of its own territory in the Negev Desert--about one-tenth the size of the land it would annex--including a former toxic waste dump.

Because of the geographic placement of Israel’s proposed West Bank annexations, Palestinians living in their new “independent state” would be forced to cross Israeli territory every time they traveled or shipped goods from one section of the West Bank to another, and Israel could close those routes at will. Israel would also retain a network of so-called “bypass roads” that would crisscross the Palestinian state while remaining sovereign Israeli territory, further dividing the West Bank.

Israel was also to have kept "security control" for an indefinite period of time over the Jordan Valley, the strip of territory that forms the border between the West Bank and neighboring Jordan. Palestine would not have free access to its own international borders with Jordan and Egypt--putting Palestinian trade, and therefore its economy, at the mercy of the Israeli military.

Had Arafat agreed to these arrangements, the Palestinians would have permanently locked in place many of the worst aspects of the very occupation they were trying to bring to an end. For at Camp David, Israel also demanded that Arafat sign an "end-of-conflict" agreement stating that the decades-old war between Israel and the Palestinians was over and waiving all further claims against Israel"

snip:"In April 2002, the countries of the Arab League--from moderate Jordan to hardline Iraq--unanimously agreed on a Saudi peace plan centering around full peace, recognition and normalization of relations with Israel in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders as well as a "just resolution" to the refugee issue. Palestinian negotiator Nabil Sha'ath declared himself "delighted" with the plan. "The proposal constitutes the best terms of reference for our political struggle," he told the Jordan Times (3/28/02)."

read full article:

The Myth of the Generous Offer
Distorting the Camp David negotiations -- link: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1113

[Tom Joad]

6. Why make false generalizations?

[piedmont]

4. heck, why not 3?

West Bank, Israel, Gaza. There-- problem solved.
:hide:

[Tom Joad]

7. Actually, that is a closer to the description of the Israeli plan.

Israel, Gaza (surrounded and closed off) and a few Palestinian bantustans in the West Bank (each cut off from the other).