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)

Illegal West Bank Settlers Vex Israel

Joel Greenberg (Chicago Tribune)

January 30, 2008

No sooner had the Israeli border police gone than the young Jewish settlers were back, to rebuild the unauthorized outpost that had just been evacuated and torn down for the ninth time in recent months. …

The scene at Shvut Ami last week demonstrated the challenge that unauthorized settler outposts in the West Bank pose to the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as peace talks with the Palestinians resume. It also was a display of what many see as the ineffectual response by Israeli authorities to lawbreaking by militant settlers.

There are more than 100 unauthorized outposts scattered over the West Bank, some no more than a trailer or tent, others clusters of homes hooked up to power and water grids, with paved access roads.

Often extensions of established settlements, the outposts have been going up for more than a decade, frequently with support of government agencies, some on private Palestinian land, in an effort by the settlers to frustrate attempts to create a territorially viable Palestinian state. Access the full article>>