Another blogger asks:
With regard to the one state solution post, do you think the areas under Palestinian control would be economically viable as part of a two state solution?
The primary factor for economic viability in a two-state solution involves Israeli control over airspace, water, and land borders of the Palestinian state. If Palestinians were allowed to (1) trade freely amongst themselves and their neighbors, and (2) develop their land without it repeatedly being destroyed by the Israeli government, then Palestinian territories would be very economically viable. But so long as we have a situation where the Israeli government gets to decide who or what is allowed into the Palestinian territories, and is also allowed virtually unrestricted authority to destroy Palestinian infrastructure in the name of national security, then a Palestinian state will never be independently economically viable.
I’m not trying to suggest that Israel doesn’t have valid security concerns about what crosses the border with Palestinian territories, or militant operations within them. However, restricting access to consumer goods and repeatedly destroying Palestinian infrastructure is counterproductive from a security standpoint for Israel: people living in the Palestinian territories feel oppressed because Israel is denying them access to the consumer goods necessary for them to thrive, and also destroying their livelihood. This creates political resentment towards Israel, which breeds support for militancy and extremism. So in order for any long-term peace to ever be established, Israel has to be willing to lift trade restrictions, stop blowing up Palestinian infrastructure in a counterproductive effort to fight militants, and give Palestinians complete and unexceptional sovereignty over their putative state. Anything less will simply be the same emperor in new clothes.
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I have to mostly hold with LTMC here, certainly for the Gaza strip which could become a Levantine Singapore if they had...
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