The mythical “last chance” for peace

While doing some reading around the blogosphere, I came across this phrase in a J Street release on the direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians:

The window of opportunity for progress is brief and closing. This could well be the last opportunity to save the two-state solution.

This is a recurring theme in the narrative on peace talks. It has been brought up many times by the Palestinians, the EU, the State Department, and dozens of op-ed writers in who knows how many media outlets.

But I have a question about the idea that if peace talks fail, there will not be a two-state solution: Says who?

Really, on what are they basing this ridiculous notion? Are they saying that if talks fail now, Israel will never again want to come to the bargaining table? That’s absurd. Are they saying that if talks fail now, the Palestinians will never again come to the bargaining table? That, too, is absurd. (Let us leave out entirely the subject of whether the Palestinians truly want peace.)

Are those who insist this is Israel’s last chance for peace then suggesting that if Israel can’t settle with the Palestinians, there can only be a one-state solution? When they mention this, in the next breath we hear about the demographic issues—the claims that there will be more Arabs between the Jordan and the Mediterranean than there will be Israeli Jews. This claim has actually been shown to be false, but as it goes against the narrative, it is not mentioned widely in the media (or, frankly, at all).

Are they saying that Intifada 3 is going to spring up on the failure of the talks? Oh, we keep hearing veiled references to that by the Palestinian side, but let’s stop and figure the chances of that occurring. The Palestinian leadership is getting rich by not attacking Israelis and receiving international funds, as well as the peace dividends of their ownership in various Palestinian industries. Many checkpoints have been removed, life is getting better for Palestinians in the West Bank—all this would be reversed if the terror war starts up again. And there is also the fact that the IDF is still able to protect Israel from terror cells to a great degree. So I think the chances of another terror war starting if the talks fail are about zero.

So what, exactly, makes these talks the “last chance for peace” that everyone keeps talking about?

Nothing. It’s just words.