I was a member of the “Two State” solution club. It seemed so obvious, at least back in the day when I was formally studying the Middle East in the 80s and 90s.
For those of you who don’t get the reference, it refers to the proposal to create a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank alongside Israel. The idea is that in exchange for formal recognition of Palestine as a separate state, the Palestinians will give up violence and coexist alongside Israel.
Sure, it would require Palestinians to become civilized human beings instead of biological reservoirs of hate, but plenty of Palestinians are civilized, and there is no genetic reason that the rest can’t be. They are human beings, after all. Look at what happened post-WWII in Germany and Japan. People can reform themselves.
Alas, it is not to be because generations of Palestinians in the formerly occupied territories (both…
