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cheap, that land is very costly. (For more thoughts on this, see “Planting People Brings a
I've also learned that these Israeli enclaves embitter the Palestinians as much as vi-
olent resistance embitters Israelis. And the more settlements are built, the more the West
Bank becomes fragmented, and the more difficult a mutually agreeable two-state solu-
tion—or any solution—may become. While I hope it's not true, I worry that the aggressive
establishment of these settlements today could haunt Israel's prospects for a happy resol-
ution of the tensions in the Middle East tomorrow.
I see three possible outcomes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The first scenario is
two independent and secure states (a Jewish Israel and Palestine). The second scenario
is one modern, pluralistic, and secular state with a dominant Jewish population and an
equal and protected Palestinian minority. Unfortunately, this is untenable for anyone who
believes in a Jewish state, as over time—according to demographic trends—the Muslim
minority would grow to outnumber the current Jewish majority, tipping the balance of
power. The third option is one Jewish state with its Palestinian minority kept on the equi-
valent of Indian reservations—what some would call an “Apartheid state.”
