The Status Quo of Israel's Settlement Policies

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It's hard to think of a more isolated country in the world, apart from Iran and North Korea. Some Israelis are now advocating a one-state solution but they would rather like to leave Gaza behind so they can ensure the Jewish majority. The situation I'm afraid will inevitably lead to accusations from some countries in the world that this situation is one of apartheid. In time it will mean no more World Cups, no more Olympics. And my final point should be just as worrying for Israel. There are now so many settlers in East Jerusalem in the West Bank that even in an Israeli government wanted to make peace,. It looks almost impossible to do.

Patriacide. Nationcide. Whatever you want to call it, that is what Israel is doing with its settlement policy: it is killing itself. If ever greater numbers of Jewish settlers are installed on land regarded by Palestinians as the basis for a state of their own, the possibility of a two-state solution grows ever more remote. Yet the single state alternative, involving annexation of the West Bank, would result in a country where Arabs vastly outnumber Jews and then you won’t have a one-state or a two-state solution: you’ll have a no-state solution. For those who love Israel and wish to preserve a democratic Jewish homeland, as much as for those who hate it, the settlements must stop. That’s what many left-wing Israelis and their friends say. But defenders of the settlements see things very differently. The two-state solution has long been a dead letter in their view: why stop building settlements in the name of a peace plan that is frankly unattainable? Whatever the eventual solution – it could even be a...

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