everyone knows what it will look like

In posting on a blog by Robyn Rosen Jonathan Hoffman quotes " a Jewish student at LSE "

This student complains that Bari Atwan is " a proponent of a one state solution " and goes on to explain that " this would result in the loss of a Jewish majority in The Land of Israel " so that " after 2000 years of yearning for a country and facing persecution in almost every area we settled we once again will be left without a land to call our own, a safe haven."

I can only assume that this student and myself would find nothing to disagree on , both of us being anxious to avoid such a disastrous outcome, that he is desperate for a viable two state solution, that he is allied with the true friends of Israel and he donates regularly to The New Israel Fund, Peace Now , Breaking the Silence and other courageous far sighted organisations.

I am sure he understands that the only way of avoiding what he fears is a VIABLE and ENDURING two state solution and to quote a former adviser at the White House " everyone knows what it will look like ."

Indeed everyone does, including the Arab League, the EU and the US; ie two states with borders pretty much along the de facto borders prior to 1967, west Jerusalem as Israel's capital, East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine with probably some international supervision of the Holy Basin and no foreign troops stationed in either country.

How can anyone disclaim that this is a good deal for Israel ? Certainly it is the best long term deal it is going to get.

Hearing Israelis calling for negotiation and compromise on these issues would be funny if it were not so tragic. This eventual outcome represents a MASSIVE compromise on the part of the Arabic population. There are roughly the same number of Jews and Arabs " between the river and the sea." Palestine will be a country of 6000 square kilometres and Israel will remain a country of 22000 square kilometres. Since a quarter of the population of Israel is Arabic we can say that the Arabic population has a quarter stake in the land of Israel.

So the Jewish population will have 16500 square kilometres and the same number of Arabs will have 11500 square kilometres. Good deal huh ?

Yet Israel wants more. And this is why it is perfectly reasonable for the Palestinians to insist on the quitting of settlement building while the deal is negotiated. It is the clearest possible indication of Israeli bad faith. If you and I were negotiating the status of a plot of land and all the while you were building your house on it would that not clearly be ludicrous ?

This Israeli land greed and land theft will kill any possibility of two states and my Jewish LSE student friend has outlined the consequences far more eloquently then I ever could