First Rule of Fight Club

Megan McArdle breaks the first law in talking about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

I think the time for a two state solution has probably already passed - I don't know anyone who gives a convincing rendition of a viable Palestinian state on the remaining territory.

I have long considered the two state solution to have died in 2000. The CW seems to be that it was a case of Arafat pushing for too much, but I think that interpretation hinges on a pretty myopic assessment of the Palestinian position. As Hamas today and the PLO years ago were frequent to mention, the Palestinians have been the Middle East's red headed step children for A LONG TIME. Which means waiting another decade for the right deal is acceptable to their side.

But every year that passes makes things a lot more difficult on the Israeli side. The Arab and Jewish settler populations are growing rapidly in Israel. And the artifacts of occupation continue to migrate further towards the Jordan River (I went to an amazing presentation a few years ago by AJPJ).

Of course the next step in all of this is acknowledging that there is no principled reason to support a Jewish state over a pluralistic liberal democracy (well, unless you buy into the thesis that Arabs are culturally incapable of sustaining democracy), but baby steps.