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A Leadership Crisis Is Compounding the Decline of the Palestinian Cause
(Wall Street Journal) Marcus Walker - Around 2010, the majority of both Palestinians and Israelis stopped believing in the two-state solution. Hamas hoped the Oct. 7 attack would revive the Palestinian cause while putting itself at the head. For many months afterward, 70% of Palestinians approved of the attack. But public opinion turned, especially in Gaza, as the war brought far more pain than gain. Much of Gaza lies in ruins, and the bulk of its population has been displaced multiple times. While the exact death toll remains uncertain, there is little doubt more Palestinians have been killed in Gaza than in any previous round of fighting. With Iran and its Lebanese ally Hizbullah faring badly in fighting with Israel last year, it is the Palestinians rather than Israel who are growing more isolated. "October 7 is a turning point in the history of the conflict - the last nail in the coffin of a two-state solution based on 1967 borders," said Hussein Ibish, a scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. "Palestinians can see the end of their national project coming, and Hamas just made it more plausible."