Opinion/Editorial

EI’s Ali Abunimah writes that a two-state solution is still possible, but only if Israel stops undermining it and immediately seizes the far-reaching offers of the Palestinians and the Arab states.

Sadly, though, the political field in Israel looks unlikely produce anyone who will seize this golden opportunity. Therefore, Israel will likely miss the boat on the two-state solution, and Palestinians and Israelis will have to think about what it will be like to live together in one state, and more importantly how to get there peacefully because no road map exists.

Since last Sunday, a question has been running around in my head and troubling my sleep: What induced the young Palestinian, who broke into Kibbutz Metzer, to aim his weapon at a mother and her two little children and kill them? Veteran Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery attempts to answer a difficult question.

A US war with Iraq may reshape the Middle East, and will certainly have an impact on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Hasan Abu Nimah, who frequently contributes to EI, turns his attention to Iraq and considers whether the new UN resolution brings war closer or pushes it away. What does this mean for the UN and how should Iraq and Arab states react to stave off the threat of a catastrophic conflict?

As Israel heads towards a new election, what prospect is there that Israel’s Labor party can offer a real alternative to Sharon? EI’s Ali Abunimah examines the positions of three leading lights of Israel’s “peace camp,” Shimon Peres, Yossi Beilin and Shlomo Ben Ami. Find out why he thinks they are calling for the resumption of a journey along a road that leads only to a dead end, with no new ideas and no incentives for Palestinians who want true reconciliation and coexistence to build a peace front with them. If this is the case, what possible solutions lie on the horizon?

Many important voices have come out to express fear that the “two-state solution” for the Palestinian-Israeli dispute is fast fading. The consequences, they warn, are horrifying, not only for the Palestinians, for whom statehood is a national aspiration, but also for Israelis. Hasan Abu Nimah examines this development and what its true consequences may be.

If everyone involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Sharon, Arafat, the US, the Europeans and the Arab states all say they want peace, then why is there no peace? Hasan Abu Nimah tells The Electronic Intifada the answers.

Just as the Israeli occupation to suppress the entire Palestinian population has taken on new shapes and forms in the absence of any international considerations, Israeli settlers are camouflaging this latest round of land confiscation with a facade of environmental issues, namely a solid waste landfill site on the eastern front of the Palestinian West Bank town of Al-Bireh. Walid Hamad, Mayor of Al-Bireh writes about the problem.

The new US “road map” to peace in the Middle East presented by US Assistant Secretary of State William J. Burns is nothing but a placebo for the Palestinians and the world community amidst war talk and sabre-rattling in Washington, DC. The new plan is not an adequate response to Palestinian and international demands that Israel immediately end the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Palestinian Sam Bahour and Israeli Michael Dahan weigh in.

There is little controversy about the facts: last Thursday, in an IDF action in Rafah, at least eight Palestinians were killed (the number will probably climb, since some of the wounded were severely hurt). Five of those killed were woman and children. Almost fifty people were wounded - many of them children who had just left their school after lessons. Who is to blame? asks veteran Israeli activist Uri Avnery.

How real is the threat of population transfer in Palestine-Israel today, asks Terry Rempel, the research coordinator at BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights in this contribution to EI? The fact is that population transfer is ongoing, with or without a US-led war against Iraq, through the revocation of residency rights, destruction of thousands of Palestinian homes over the past two years among other measures. As pro-transfer rhetoric heats up in Israel and the US heads towards war what are the prospects for outright ethnic cleansing?