Without two-state solution, Middle East faces ‘perpetual violence’

A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is more remote than ever, with the risk of generations of violence and radicalism unless leaders act, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov said on Wednesday.

 

In his first public comments since the publication on July 1 of a report by the Quartet of Middle East mediators, Mladenov said the situation was approaching a point of no return.

 

“(The two-state solution) is perhaps the furthest away it’s ever been, and in fact it is really worse than that—it is slipping away as we speak,” he told Reuters in an interview, citing Israeli settlement building and Palestinian violence and incitement as among the most troubling obstacles.
“It’s time for the international community and the leadership on both sides to wake up.”

 

“The only alternative (to a two-state solution) that I see is perpetual violence here in Israel and Palestine and entangling this conflict into the broader problems of the region,” he said, adding it would be akin to “writing a blank check to violence and radicalism” for generations to come.

 

Since October, Palestinian street attacks have killed at least 33 Israelis and two visiting Americans. Israel has killed at least 202 Palestinians, 137 of whom it said were assailants. Others were killed during clashes and protests.

 

In the West Bank on Wednesday, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian who the military said drove a car at high speed at troops during a raid on a weapons-making workshop.

 

Some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government openly dismiss the idea of a Palestinian state, suggesting Israel should annex what is known as Area C of the West Bank, which makes up over 60 percent of the territory and is where nearly all Israel’s settlements are located.

 

Read More: Ynetnews News – UN: Without two-state solution, Middle East faces ‘perpetual violence’