The best and actually the only way to end Palestinian violence is by ending Israeli occupation of all the land Israel grabbed in the 1967 war, to make the space for a genuine two-state solution with Jerusalem, preferably as an open city, the capital of two states.

You might say that a Palestinian mini state on the West Bank and in Gaza would pose a threat to Israel’s security. That is what Zionism asserts, but it’s nonsense. Why?

Suppose a Palestinian mini-state was in being, and also suppose that from it attacks on Israel were carried out, what would happen? Israel at a point would invade and, with the support of the international community, would crush the Palestinian mini state out of existence. As Arafat put it to me many years ago, does anybody (he meant any rational person) really believe that if they got a mini state, the Palestinians would be stupid enough to give Israel the pretext to destroy it?

I think it’s worth adding (as I mentioned in my joint IS PEACE POSSIBLE? presentation with Ilan Pappe), that there is no mystery about Hamas’s real position. If tomorrow the government of Israel said and meantthat it was serious about negotiations for peace based on a genuine two-state solution, Hamas would say, “Let’s do the business.” And it would say that, and mean it, because its leaders are not stupid. They know they would have no choice because a genuine two-state solution is still what the vast majority of Palestinians are prepared to settle for. (Though for how much longer this will remain the case is a good question)

Just the few last weeks the following “incidents” took place :

* Islamic Jihad terrorist captured near Tel Aviv after his bomb belt fails to detonate
* Palestinian bride arrested on suspicion of planning to carry out suicide bombing
* 3 Israelis injured in shooting attack near Modi’in
* Hamas calls for further kidnappings of Israeli soldiers
* Israeli cars shot at in West Bank
* Israeli civilian wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting
* Arrests prevent huge Hamas-planned car bomb in Tel Aviv
* Egypt arrests would-be Hamas suicide bomber near Israeli border
* Palestinian rockets hit Sderot home; several Israelis treated for shock

Cease-fire?