The end of the two-state illusion: Gaza's silver lining?

Everything we see today in Israel/Palestine is a result of the "inability to put the Oslo zombie out of its misery".

By Mark LeVine

Al-Jazeera

"....Once the fighting dies down, Israel will threaten to end its support for Oslo and even topple the PA if it goes ahead with its fight for greater international recognition. But there's little chance it would follow through on such a threat, since the alternative to the Oslo process would be direct rule over the Occupied Territories, thus making the one-state choice for Palestinians.

Sadly, if the Arab Spring was in good measure inspired by the two Palestinian intifadas, there seems to be no scenario in which a robust Palestinian civil society can lead the kind of intifada that brought an end to the rule of Tunisia's Ben Ali or Egypt's Mubarak. Neither Israel nor the international community, nor the contending poles of the Palestinian leadership will allow such a movement to emerge.

"The People want the downfall of the regime!" is clearly a sentiment most Palestinians would agree with. But unlike Egyptians, Tunisians, or even Libyans and Syrians, Palestinians must simultaneously fight multiple occupations - against their own leadership as much as against Israel.

At the same time, like an abuser whose actions are celebrated by his friends rather than condemned, Israel has little if any incentive begins treating Palestinians like full human beings. But if this latest round of bloody violence can help finally destroy the Oslo illusion, it might just force the two sides to look across the so-called Green Line and begin the long, arduous but absolutely necessary project of imagining a common and equal future in which the full humanities and rights of both sides is finally respected."