What the Collapse of the Two-State Solution Means for Palestinian and Israeli Nationalism
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FOR ABOUT A CENTURY NOW, the Zionist movement and the Palestinian nationalist movement have been locked in furious struggle, where each side felt its very existence threatened by the other. Each laid exclusive claims to the same piece of real estate, and made little effort to understand or appreciate the other. To the contrary, the struggle was waged on the basis of mutual exclusion, and a zero-sum approach. After the stunning victory of Israel in 1967, a historic opportunity appeared to break this logjam: The formula (land for peace) would require Israel to withdraw back to the pre-1967 border, and establish a Palestinian Arab state in the area of the West Bank and Gaza that would be returned to Arab sovereignty. Some form of joint sovereignty over Jerusalem, demilitarization of the new state, and other minor changes would round up the picture, and the conflict would be resolved.