They had the effective backing of the United States, or at least were assured of its inertia.”
I am as old as Israel, and a lifelong supporter, except for the settlements and Bibi Netanyahu. My government, now lead by Joe Biden, must end our support for this madness and declare our commitment to a two state solution based on pullback of most settlements, leveraged by US aid. It is time.
@G0vernanceEmiliaRepublican4mos4MO
I am also really critical of Nethanyahu's escalating policy (and coalition partners), but I think the two-state solution definitely died with the Palestinian attacks in October. Isn't it so: From Israel's point of view, the Gaza Strip was something like a Palestinian state where they no longer had security influence and only tried to keep the borders closed for weapons? Hamas used this to expand the entire area and preferably also civilian facilities into armed positions with the declared aim of attacking Israel and wiping it off the map. These extremists, blinded by hatred of Israel, did not care about the welfare of their own population (international aid had to feed them).
How can anyone prevent this from happening again in a sovereign Palestinian state?
I'm not optimistic. A two state solution is a near impossibility at this point, and the only two U.S, Presidents who tried to exert pressure on Israel on settlement expansion - GHW Bush and Obama - either paid a political price (Bush) or backed down (Obama). The U.S. has vetoed every UN Security Council resolution on the settlements except for the abstention at the end of Obama's second term. Too many Americans either support Jewish settlements in the West Bank or, oppose pressure on Israel to halt the settlements. We also saw support for the settlements with accusations of antis… Read more
