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Do Palestinians Really Want a Two-State Solution?

[Wall Street Journal Europe] Josef Joffe - Hamas wants bad things to happen to its own people. This will mobilize the "Arab street" and the world's media against Israel while demonstrating its absolute imperviousness to pain. "Bring it on" is great for Hamas' credibility, pride and honor, but for the purpose of statehood, it would behave very differently. Double-statehood is not the Palestinians' no. 1 priority. They want it all, and if they can't get it, they would rather nurse their honor, pride and sense of righteous victimhood than engage in the sordid business of compromise. Never again will Israel vacate territory without making sure that it won't turn into a strategic springboard against the heartland. It will insist on a strategic presence in the Jordan Valley. Nor can Israel yield military control over the West Bank. The upside is that today Palestine is less than ever the "core" of the Middle East conflict. The real issue is Iran and its reach for regional hegemony. Iran will use its power, through its proxies, to demolish whatever deal might be hashed out by Israel and the PA. Iran's object is to intimidate America's Arab supporters and to eliminate Israel as America's strongest regional ally. So for the Obama administration, Israel/Palestine has become an intractable sideshow on a vastly enlarged stage. The writer is publisher-editor of Die Zeit, and a fellow at the Institute for International Studies and the Hoover Institution, both at Stanford University.
2009-01-27 06:00:00
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