This month, a group of countries will meet in New York to push again for the two-state solution. The same idea has been pushed for decades, Oslo, Camp David, Madrid, Annapolis, and every attempt has failed. The countries involved break into three types. First, the major powers like the UK, France, Ausralia and Canada. Second, the small and insignificant states whose votes simply follow the lead of those powers. Third, the Islamic countries.
Just like Secretary Marco Rubio said in a press conference, this conference will get us nowhere. It will only embolden Hamas and other terrorist groups. I agree with Secretary Rubio — but probably for different reasons.
For decades the West has looked at the Arab–Israeli conflict through the same lens it uses for its own disputes. In Europe, wars over land, power, or ideology eventually gave way to negotiation, compromise, and treaties. The assumption is that all conflicts work this way: each side states its demands, each side gives something up, and a middle ground is found. That’s the framework behind every “peace process” the West has tried to impose on Israel and its neighbors. But This dialectic framework that drives Western political thought simply does not apply here.