OPINION (BIN) – Last week, Jared Kushner, one of the administration’s point men on the Middle East, dispensed with the term “two-state solution” in its impending peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians. “The two-state solution has failed,” he said. Not for lack of trying. The “two-state solution” does not appear in the 1993 Oslo Accords, which called only for “interim self-government” for the Palestinians. The goal was a negotiated final status agreement, in which independence was not specified. The phrase was intended to
create the aura of equality between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. It was born of the belief that Israel, the strong party, had to offer the Palestinians, the weak party, a certain status — or at least potential status. After that, the Palestinians acquired many of the attributes of statehood — an office in Washington called an “embassy,” a designated U.S. diplomatic facility in Jerusalem called an “embassy” and full status in a number of international organizations.A “state” next to the State of Israel, seemed only a matter of time. READ MORE