Keeping Palestinian Hopes Alive
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dealt a grievous blow to a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, for baldly political reasons, the idea of two states living side by side in that region remains the best alternative to violent confrontation and should not be allowed to die.
It is hard to tell where Mr. Netanyahu actually stands on statehood. First, he renounced it in a last-ditch bid for re-election votes that was accompanied by a chilling appeal to his base to counter Israeli Arab votes on Election Day. Then he tried to walk back his statements, at least on the surface, telling MSNBC: “I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution, but, for that, circumstances have to change.” On Monday, he apologized, more or less, for the remark about Arab voters.
Source: www.nytimes.com