Where now for the Palestine-Israeli problem?
The conflict between Palestinians and Israel seems to have fallen out of consideration by much of the world’s media. Perhaps the problem is just too intractable. But the violence in Gaza continues and there is an election coming up in Israel.
My friend Eric Lee has given his sobering thoughts in this piece for “The Times of Israel” where he comments on the longstanding idea of two states:
” .. the two-state solution seems further away than ever, with both sides, Israelis and Palestinians, claiming that there is no partner on the other side. And both sides may well be right. Abbas seems to be concerned only with retaining power, which he clings to for dear life, and shows no interest in resuming any kind of negotiations. And this seems to work well for his Israeli partner Netanyahu, who also is laser-focused on remaining prime minister, and is delighted not to have to ever sit across a bargaining table with Palestinians again.”
If you want some brief historic background to the Arab/Israeli conflict, you might like to read my book review.