Obstacles to the two-state solution

The Center for American Progress held a discussion today on "Prospects for a Two-State Solution: Understanding Challenges and Creating Opportunities." Retired Israeli Brigadier General Ilan Paz, former head of the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank and Ghaith al-Omari, advocacy director of the American Task Force on Palestine and former adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke on the current outlook and prospects fora peaceful two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Both speakers called for policy changes on both sides. Gen. Paz suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will want strong guidelines from the U.S. as the coalition government he will form will most likely be right-wing and oppose a two-state solution. Furthermore, he stated that Hamas is an obstacle to this process, and ideally Abbas will be given an opportunity to create a Palestinian unity government.

al-Omari stated that Israel must allow for more freedom of movement in the Palestinian territories and remove some checkpoints. Furthermore, he believes that while Hamas must be isolated, the people of Gaza should not suffer; humanitarian aid, he stated, cannot be politicized. He believes that on the Palestinian side, there needs to be a new government that is committed to reforms in security and counterterrorism.