Ali Abunimah analyzes the coalition talks in Israel, in the context of Sharon’s creeping annexation of the West Bank.
“In the long run, the fundamental problem is that there is no partition of Palestine-Israel possible that is acceptable to sufficient numbers of both Israelis and Palestinians. The barest consensus, resting largely on fear of the Palestinian birth rate, exists in Israel for some sort of separation from the West Bank and Gaza. But it seems no two Israelis can agree on what and where to withdraw from. Even the most forthcoming proposals fall far short of what international law requires and any majority of Palestinians could accept as a minimal basis for a two-state solution. While this stalemate hardens, construction of new settlements and the wall grinds on, further altering demographics and geography such that the concepts of withdrawal and separation become ever more nonsensical.”
