Here, we provide an assessment of recent developments both in the Palestinian Authority (PA)-ruled West Bank and Hamas-controlled Gaza. Given its current state, reform of Palestinian politics has now become a prerequisite for the two-state solution. If the Palestinians cannot agree on a unified political platform, reform the near-defunct institutions of the Palestinian Authority (the administrative body created by the Oslo Accords) and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (their national representative), and finally select an empowered, representative leadership, they will never be in a position to engage in a serious political process or negotiation. Without fundamental changes to Palestinian politics, there will be no two-state solution, as this paper shows. It is simply that we believe the internal Palestinian question can no longer be ignored by the international community if it truly wants a resolution to the conflict. There are many things that Israel can and should do to change the underlying dynamic of the present situation. However, none of this means either that we do not believe a heavy responsibility also lies with Israel or that the Palestinians are to blame for the present impasse. In this paper we focus on the need for reform of Palestinian politics as preconditional to a revival of the hopes for peace. This has created a toxic combination that threatens to undermine the stability of the region and beyond unless urgent, earnest and renewed efforts are made to remedy the stalemate. The international community appears to have largely given up on the prospect of reviving the peace process. Palestinian politics is in fully fledged crisis. Otherwise, the issue will continue to be ignored, the situation will fester and deteriorate, and the losers ultimately will be the Palestinian people, the Israelis and the region. It is time there was a proper and open debate about this in the international community. Without a resolution to the issues in Palestinian politics, leading to a unified Palestinian politics genuinely committed to peace, there will be no resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As the authors make clear, this doesn't in any way absolve the Israeli government of its responsibilities or set aside the many criticisms that can be made of Israeli policy over the years.īut the paper pinpoints something that cannot be ignored or left unattended if we're serious about the prospects for peace. This paper focuses on the crisis – not too strong a word – in Palestinian politics. It is simply that on analysis of the current state of affairs, they think the success of any revived process is highly unlikely, and unfortunately this is right. Many of the administration members have a long commitment to the peace process and experience of it.
This is the first US administration I can recall that has set out no great ambition for a peace process, instead attempting to manage the situation because they believe the circumstances are not right for resolving it. More than that, the interest of the international community and even the region in striving for Israeli-Palestinian peace has diminished significantly over the past years and is now, frankly, in abeyance.
Despite the apparent agreement of the international community that the correct resolution is for a solution of “two states for two peoples”, the blunt reality is this outcome is further away than ever. I have been engaged in the search for a just and lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the best part of 20 years.
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