Sander Gerbert and Robert Wexler
The Hill, Jan. 4, 2024
“This doesn’t mean the two-state solution is impossible, but it does demand a realistic assessment of its current viability given Iranian opposition to a moderate Palestinian leadership that could actually make peace. The first step towards a revamped PA must be the elimination of “Pay for Slay” replaced by a Palestinian welfare system based on economic factors, not rewards for terrorist acts against Israel.”
For too long, a two-state solution has been a panacea for peace in the Middle East. But it will never come about until diplomats and politicians address the real reason why the region remains in chaos: the destabilizing role Iran and its proxies play.
As the Israel-Hamas war enters its fourth month, the more clear it is that the brutality of the Oct. 7 attacks was itself a strategy. Iran trained and funded Hamas with the mission to refocus global attention on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The barbaric pogrom, which Hamas fighters documented with GoPro cameras, was designed not only to terrorize Israelis, but to trigger a devastating Israeli invasion against Hamas in Gaza, replete with civilian casualties.
Then could the images of Palestinian victims rouse the “Arab Street” and estrange rulers of the Sunni states in the Levant and Gulf from the emerging security structure that would be led by the U.S. and include Israel.
It’s no coincidence that Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen tried to attack shipping vessels in the Red Sea before the U.S. military put down the assault.
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