The two-state solution is dead. “Left-wing” Israeli leader Haim Oron, chairman of the Meretz party, says:
The two-state solution is on its last legs. That is why this election is so important. If we do not quickly implement the partition into two states, that solution will evaporate and Zionism will be stuck its worst crisis ever. This could turn into a bad cross between Rhodesian apartheid and Somalian bloodshed.
The upcoming Israeli election will almost certainly lead to an Israeli political elite that will embrace more settlements and no negotiations. The Jewish state is becoming a ghetto and rather likes it.
And those pesky Palestinians just don’t seem to love Israel after the recent war:
Hamas’ popularity has soared in the wake of the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip, while that of the rival Fatah movement has declined, an opinion poll released on Wednesday showed.
The survey, by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC), used face-to-face interviews of nearly 1,200 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza as their data-points. This poll used the same question set as polls conducted in April and November 2008.
The percentage of individuals who would vote for Hams if parliamentary elections were held today rose to 28.6% compared with 19.3% in April. The popularity of Fatah declined from 34% last April to 27.9% in the poll.
This change was also reflected in the level of public trust in the two movements. Trust in Hamas rose from 16.6% last November to 27.7% in the poll. Trust in Fatah fell from 31.3% to 26% in the same period…
The poll also suggests that the Palestinian public prefers “resistance” as a strategy over the high-level political negotiations preferred by Fatah.
What an Israeli “victory”.