Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 19. Paradigm Lost by Ian Lustick. Why Israel threw away the possibility of a Two-State Solution.

Ian Lustick is a prominent political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania.  He is known for his analysis of intractable conflicts:  South Africa, Algeria, Northern Ireland, and Israel-Palestine. I discussed some of his ideas in the podcast on The Black Swan.  

 In his book Paradigm Lost Lustick discusses why the option of a two-state solution is no longer possible.  He says there is now a single state reality containing Israel and Palestine.  

He also discusses how Israeli thinking of the Holocaust has gone through four stages, with dramatically different implications for public policy.  

There were several opportunities in the past for Israel to make a serious effort to create a Palestinian state.  There were partners available.  Why did Israel not take this opportunity to solve a problem that could potentially destabilize the state?  He says there are two reasons rooted in how the Israelis think – one involves the idea of an Iron Wall and the other an understanding of the Holocaust.  There is also a political factor, the role of the Israel Lobby in America.  His discussion of these factors is deeply analytical and grounded in reality.  After all, he is a political scientist. 

This is my summary of Lustick’s thinking.  If you are concerned about this conflict, you should listen to this podcast.  And if you think it is as important as I do, you should probably buy this book to discover all the things I did not have time to discuss.   

Glitch:  The Reagan Plan, also called the Comprehensive Solution, was in 1982.  Sorry for the confusion. 

People Mentioned: Meir Pa’il,  David Ben-Gurion, Vladimir Jabotinsky, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon, Konrad Adenauer, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, King Fahd, James Madison, Golda Meir, Adolph Eichmann,  President George H. W. Bush, James Baker. 

Other Things Mentioned:  AIPAC, Reagan Plan, Resolution 242, Oslo Accords, Holocaustia, Yad Vashem, Sabra and Shatilla, Ibrahami Mosque massacre (Hebron), Federalist Ten, Treblinka.