Previously secret diplomatic documents detailing the peace negotiations over the past 10 years between the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority have revealed a damning portrait of behind-closed-door diplomacy, with historic and vast concessions on East Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and illegal Israeli settlements.

In the wake of the documents being published, many commentators have declared the end of the two-state solution.

Jonathan Freeland, a commentator at The Guardian, wrote that:

These texts will do enormous damage to the standing of the Palestinian Authority and to the Fatah party that leads it. Erekat himself may never recover his credibility.  But something even more profound is at stake: these documents could discredit among Palestinians the very notion of negotiation with Israel and the two-state solution that underpins it.

Despite the less than favorable light in which the American role in brokering a peace agreement is presented – The Guardian describes their neutrality as “bullying the weak and holding the hand of the strong” – the U.S. Department of State continues to recite their traditional diplomatic mantra.

Department of State spokesperson Philip J. Crowley tweeted that “The U.S. remains focused on a two-state solution and will continue to work with the parties to narrow existing differences on core issues.”

However, that position, and there inherent optimism about the peace process it contains, is being increasingly challenged.

Robert L. Grenier, a 27-year veteran of CIA clandestine service in the Middle East and an insider to American interests in the region, writes that:

The overwhelming conclusion one draws from this record is that the process for a two-state solution is essentially over, that the history of the peace process is one of abject failure for all concerned. The Palestinian participants, having lost the most, will likely suffer most.

The Guardian -- one of two news outlets, along with Al Jazeera, that had access to the documents -- published an editorial on the documents that echoed the sentiment that these papers and the massive concessions they reveal will serve as a nail in the coffin of the two-state solution:

The Palestinian Authority may continue as an employer but, as of today, its legitimacy as negotiators will have all but ended on the Palestinian street. The two-state solution itself could just as swiftly perish with it.

The alternative is to allow the cancer of the existing one-state solution to grow and to prepare for the next war. No one will have to wait long for that.

With the latest round of direct peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians faltering over the settlement issue, optimism continues to fade on the prospects for a fair two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 

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