https://arab.news/n9su2
History is replete with ironies, and it would be the irony of all ironies if it were to be current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of all people, who, by his obstructionist approach to any peace based on the two-state solution, was to become the catalyst of Palestinian self-determination becoming a reality.
On the face of it, you might ask yourself: how is this possible? After all, it is Netanyahu who, in his long political career, has invested much of his energy and the power of his office in the cause of preventing Palestinian self-determination. And he has incited against any Israeli leader who has negotiated peace based on a two-state solution, as well as those who have merely supported it.
That is all true. And even in the few instances when he expressed support for a two-state solution, it was half-hearted and almost deliberately unconvincing. He also allowed and actually encouraged the transfer of hundreds of millions of US dollars into Hamas’ coffers to add fuel to the rift between this Islamist movement and its political rival Fatah, which governs the West Bank. He used this to advance his claim that there was no partner for peace on the Palestinian side, as long as the two territories of a future Palestinian state were kept politically divided and no general election was held to unite the Palestinian political system.
