Well. let's look at what two states might look like, Teribus. One rich state with a powerful military next to a much poorer state with one of two conformations: either an Arab state consisting in effect of enclaves within Israel, or a larger Arab state containing Israeli enclaves consisting of the current settlements. The former is completely unacceptable to the Palestinians for obvious reasons. The latter, though under Palestinian sovereignty, would contain clusters of much wealthier non-Arab people who would almost certainly insist on continued separation and who would fuel resentment among the majority Arab population. Two states based on 1967 borders is just never going to happen because Israel never has to give back.

Do you really think you can blame the Palestinians for not having the appetite for either scenario? Or the ordinary Israeli people, for that matter? How can you possibly deny that current Israeli policy is doing anything other then making a two-state solution less and less viable? Obsessively blaming Palestinians for walking away from a two-state solution is just absurd. The Israeli regime want it even less than the Palestinians, otherwise they wouldn't be doing things that, plain as the nose on your face, militate against it.

We can go on as now for ever, enduring conflict after conflict. Or we will end up with a single state in which the demographic will develop in a way that Israel will see as threatening. Israel would have to choose between ditching democracy or ditching the Jewish state. It will come to that because Israel's short-sighted leaders are making anything else impossible. They are acting against the long-term interests of their own people. One fine day the people might actually wake up to it and see that trying to be good neighbours might be better all round.