Is this what a “Two-State Solution” would look like?

Today’s New York Times headline reads “Palestinian Militants Stage Attack on Israel” (New York Times, 8 October 2023.) But they’re only “militants” because 1) Arab Palestine isn’t a sovereign state, yet; and 2) Hamas hasn’t extended its control from Gaza to the West Bank, yet. The headline could more accurately state “Palestinian Army Attacks Israel.” Or, if one wanted to be more accurate still and was running a little hot, “Palestinian Army ‘Pearl Harbors’ a Dozing Israel.”

A Two-State Solution will not bring peace. It will put an Iranian client-state on two frontiers (Gaza, West Bank) of Israel. It will put an Iranian client state (Palestine) on one frontier of Jordan, while a second Iranian client state (Iraq) may develop on another frontier.

What is the United States to do about Iran? Israel will certainly see Iran’s hand in this attack. This will be all the more the case if the reports of Hezbollah attacks on Israeli positions on the Golan Heights are accurate. What will Saudi Arabia make of the attacks? Will it promote a reconciliation with Israel or will harsh measures against the Gaza base of Hamas alienate the Saudis? Some Democrats had begun to press for concessions to Palestinians as part of any American-brokered Saudi-Israel agreement. Will they stick to that position? Possibly become more anti-Israel as they watch apartment buildings implode on their televisions?

Also, the attack by Hamas will paper-over the deep divisions in Israel, but for how long? Those divisions are not merely superficial. A wartime “civic truce” isn’t going to resolve them. Over the long term, it might even make them worse.