In case there is any misunderstanding here, my personal opinion is that one state in which Jews and Palestinians (as well as others) have equal rights and freedoms is the only lasting solution and that a two-state solution is at this point a non-starter. In this sense, Palestinians like Ali Abunimah and Israelis like Bryan Atinsky get my vote. The thing is that I don't really have a vote in this situation (I can only have an opinion) -- it's up to Palestinians and Israelis to work it out.
A more pressing concern now is a possibility of a civil war among Palestinians, what Washington and Tel Aviv wanted Palestinians to have all along. Just today, I read of a shootout between Hamas and Fatah militants. You see, the Palestinian Authority is completely dependent on foreign aid . . . just as Aristide's government was before the US cut it off, aided the opposition, and ousted Aristide in a coup (cf. Paul Farmer, "Who Removed Aristide?" 15 April 2004, <http://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n08/farm01_.html>). Washington is squeezing Hamas in the same way: see Joel's "Vote No on House Bill 4681" (at <http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/36024/> -- see also the text of the bill <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.4681:>). It should be noted that on this issue Congress is to the right of the White House: <http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961313237&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull>.
(BTW, Tom Lantos, who was one of the speakers at the "Save Darfur" rally, is one of the sponsors of the bill.)
Someone (hopefully not the Gulf States) needs to pay Hamas. Tehran pledged $50 million, but it is said that the PA needs "a further $170m a month . . . to run the administration, out of which $115m" goes "to paying salaries" (at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4914334.stm>). Can Tehran do more?
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>