| Chapter 1: | The Price of Failure |
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that, in turn, require a multifaceted strategy. This cumulative set of reasons demands a sophisticated and nuanced series of responses.
What is sorely needed now is a consciously strategic approach. I will therefore articulate several possible strategic options. Some may be fairly obvious, but I will propose some outside-of-the-box answers as well, mostly as an attempt to invite innovative thinking on certain critical issues. Such an exercise may upset some individuals, for which I apologize, but it is my hope that the exercise serves as an impetus for critical reflection not only about what I am saying but also about what has prompted these statements.
The first set of reasons for the failure of the realization of a two-state solution to date centers on immediate obstacles to progress. As it has been said repeatedly, this is perhaps the most opportune moment for a settlement since the early 1990s. I think it may be the most promising time since 1967. It is also the most dangerous period because if current efforts fail, it will be a disaster. There are two major immediate explanations for the inability to take advantage of the present opportunity.
The first is so obvious that it is practically self-explanatory: What is going on now on the ground is a cycle of violence that consists of periodic Palestinian attacks, Israeli retaliation in the form of bombardments and restrictions on Palestinians' lives, and then more attacks on Israeli civilians. Periodic lulls have been overtaken by spurts of extreme violence, each followed by a hiatus that is subsequently broken through the further escalation of violence. I call this “the ping-pong syndrome.” It is a dangerous, violent spiral.
It is not always easy to trace the initial trigger, but the pattern is clear. This is a militaristic dynamic of violence, and it is lethal in every sense of the term, with grim implications not only for human life but for the psyches of many Israelis and Palestinians. Everybody is trapped in this cycle, but its significance is more complicated than it seems. What has been set in motion is an inverted logic: When the violence peaks, negotiations cease entirely, and when there is a lull in the violence, there is no incentive to engage in negotiations. Settlements are expanded, more