In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

09/04/08: From Zero-Sum to Win-Win —Mara Rudman, adviser, Middle East Progress; senior fellow, Center for American Progress. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.
09/04/08: How Progress Is Possible —
08/07/08: How to Deal with Jerusalem —Lt. Col. (Res.) Ron Shatzberg, Project Director, Economic Cooperation Foundation. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

Two-State Solution Still Best Option

“In practical terms, we can reach two conclusions: First, a final-status agreement, although its details are known, cannot be secured in the foreseeable future. Second, the time has come to think about other solutions. One of them is a return not to the 1967 borders, but rather, to the reality that prevailed in 1967, when Jordan controlled the West Bank.”
—Major General (ret.) Giora Eiland, “The Jordanian Option,” YNet, September 3, 2008

"On both sides of the green line and, indeed, wherever people think about solutions to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, a lot of old/new thinking is taking place. … Most of these ideas are patently unrealistic. Discussion of them often reflects despair, not pragmatic strategic thinking. … Precisely because there is no such alternative, other options more readily suggest themselves, ranging from temporary conflict management to three states or entities. Nor does failure today mean that tomorrow we cannot try again to arrive at a two-state solution, which remains the best option for all."
—Yossi Alpher, coeditor of the bitterlemons family of internet publications & former director, Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, "One State Definitely Not an Option," bitterlemons.org, August 18, 2008

Middle East Analysis

How Progress Is Possible —Hiba Husseini, chair, Legal Committee to Final Status Negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis; former vice chairperson of the Palestine Securities Exchange (1998-May 2005). Interview with Middle East Bulletin.
Perils of an Israeli Transition —The New York Times, Editorial
The Arabs Will Look Differently Upon America —Ron Pundak, director general of the Peres Center for Peace and former architects and negotiators of the Oslo Agreement (bitterlemons.org)

Bush Needs to Dissuade Israel on New Settlement Plan

Newsday, Editorial

December 14, 2007

The revived Israeli-Palestinian peace process could get derailed at the starting gate unless President George W. Bush acts quickly to put it back on track. Bush, who pledged to become actively involved in the process after a seven-year hiatus, must persuade Israel to give up its wrongheaded plan to enlarge a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. …

At a summit last month in Annapolis, Md., Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to resume the peace process. They also agreed to implement the key provisions of the 2003 road map. That blueprint for peace called on Israel to freeze the construction of Jewish settlements and for Palestinians to impose law and order in the occupied territories.

As a goodwill gesture after Annapolis, Abbas deployed hundreds of members of security forces in the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Tulkarem, in an attempt to curb militant factions. Israel also must do its part.

And so must Washington. Bush should use whatever pressure is necessary to get Israel to rescind its settlement-enlarging plan. If the scheme was devised as a way for Israeli hard-liners to kill the peace process at its rebirth, they would succeed - and prove skeptics right once again. If Bush is serious about making Mideast peace a priority, he cannot allow that to happen. Access the full article>>