More importantly, the peace talks are in limbo and George W. Bush doesn’t realise — in his insistence on praising Mahmoud Abbas and pushing for renewed talks with Fatah — that Abbas and Fatah are dead for all practical purposes. The secular Fatah is being radicalised and the day may not be far off when the Fatah moderates are purged and an Islamist Fatah merged with Hamas. As the possibility of a two-state solution recedes, Israel could be staring at the untenable prospect of a single state that houses both Jews and Arabs.

It is not just that the West Bank and Gaza constitute a humanitarian disaster of mammoth proportions, but also the danger of demographics overwhelming and sinking Israel. If Israel doesn’t let go of the West Bank, it will soon be a Jewish state with an Arab majority and then, would one be looking at another South Africa? A one-state solution would anyway mean the dissolution of Israel, something that it cannot allow. Those opposed to a Palestinian state ignore this demographic threat. Of course, the utopian dream of Jews and Arabs living in harmony in one state is just that — a utopia, despite the relative prosperity of Arab Israelis.

Thus is it also imperative for Israel, a matured democracy at 60, with its prime minister on the verge of indictment for corruption, with one of the finest militaries in the world, to talk to Hamas. It is an axiom of asymmetric warfare that the weaker party holds an advantage disproportionate to its weapons. Hamas will never win, but its rocket fire won’t cease either. If the talks fail (as they might), there is nothing to lose because then Israel can go back to blockading Gaza and pounding Hamas. But if the talks succeed, there is everything to gain — peace, even if momentary. Peace for Shderot and Ashkelon. Peace for Israelis who live in perpetual terror of suicide attacks and Qasam rockets and for Palestinians who continue to suffer perpetual destitution and humiliation. And it isn’t as if Israel hasn’t had a line of communication with Hamas all this time.

... contd.