Former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami invested substantial time and effort into shaping a two-state solution during his political career – and ultimately came to the conclusion that it was not viable.
On the Haaretz Podcast, Ben-Ami cast a critical eye on the current push by French President Emmanuel Macron and a long list of countries including the U.K., Australia and Canada to recognize a Palestinian state at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.
He sees the move more as "a sign of despair" over the leaders' powerlessness to end the Gaza war rather than "a practical solution" that lacks a roadmap for turning the concept into reality. Calling the two-state formula on the table "utterly irrelevant," Ben-Ami expressed "surprise that statesmen such as Macron and the others were pulling it out of the attic of lost causes."
In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Ben-Ami spoke on the podcast of the deterioration of the Gaza conflict from a "legitimate war of self-defense" one of "merciless, cruel vengeance."
He also explained why "total victory" over Hamas remains impossible. Whatever the outcome in Gaza, he noted, the war will be framed as a success and "will remain in the collective memory of the Palestinian nation that they forced Israel into a war that lasted more than two years, that Hamas pulled the two-state solution out of oblivion, emptied Israeli prisons of Palestinian prisoners, blocked the Israel-Saudi normalization and Israel's dream of regional peace."
Read more:
Shlomo Ben Ami: A Total Victory in Gaza Is a Dangerous Delusion. Just Ask Kissinger
Israel Facing Mounting International Pressure as Belgium Says Will Recognize Palestine at UN
Trump's Ban on Mahmoud Abbas Is Bad News for Palestine. But It's Dangerous for the UN
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