Some who favor a two-state solution might claim to see advantages in this direction of developments insofar as it would force Israel's right-wing settler government to confront reality, recognize the negative consequences of its current policies and adopt more moderate ones. In reality, due to Israeli government and US indecision, Palestinian weakness, and pressures from all other camps, the outcome would probably be closer to chaos than to rationality. The cause of both Israeli Jewish nationalism and Palestinian nationalism, both of which ultimately require a two-state solution, might suffer grievous harm. The vast majority of both peoples would lose out.
Yet it could happen.
The best way to prevent this contingency is for Israel to get serious about a viable two-state solution and for Israel, the PLO and the US to recognize that the Oslo process is bankrupt and must be replaced. We urgently need an alternative process that delinks the more doable post-1967 issues of borders, security and sovereignty from the intractable pre-1967 issues of refugees and holy places. We must prioritize the former over the latter in order to break the stalemate and reposition the conflict in a win-win two-state reality. We must turn the PA into a Palestinian state before it's too late.
