The two-state "final" solution
Benjamin Netanyahu created quiet a stir recently when he said that no Palestinian state would be created under his leadership. Many liberals will see Netanyahu as being a mean-spirited hard-liner, but in reality it's a matter of practicality. As the situation currently stands it is not in Israel's best interests for Palestinian state. For one, a contiguous Palestinian state would come at the expense of a dis-contiguous Israel. The current proposal of merging Gaza and the West Bank would cut Israel in two. Incidentally this proposal is similar to the 1947 UN partition plan that the Arab's rejected at that time. Second, such a Palestinian state would set Israel back to pre-1967 borders, nicknamed the Auschwitz borders because they are indefensible. A return to those lines would leave Israel with a waistline just nine miles (15 kilometers) wide at its narrowest point. A "two-state solution” would be a "final solution" for Israel. Third, as seen...