Israel-Palestine--Would a THREE State Solution Work?

As we watch the violence escalate in Gaza, and people on both sides being killed, terrorized, and scapegoated, I am left to wonder what the heck can be done to end the violence in this part of the world, with some sort of lasting truce.

Some of the groundwork may already be in place, given the reaction of the surrounding country governments to the violence. A surprising rebuke of Hamas by Arab leaders has given me some hope that a solution could be brokered by Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

I find Fatah's relative silence on this matter surprising. From a political standpoint, it is smart of Fatah, and its leader Abu Abbas, to remain quiet, and let his rivals be weakened by Israeli forces. However, it is surprising that a Palestinian authority like Fatah wouldn't ignore its best interest, because it never has tried to serve its own better interests in the past.

In previous rounds of discussions, the ruling Fatah party, and Arafat's PLO, have ignored treaties, broken promises, or otherwise acted in interests more in line with the destruction of Israel, than in having its own sovereign nation, or ruling authority. Not to say that Israel has also broken promises, but unlike previous standoffs, Fatah may have recognized this time, that getting involved, rhetorically, or otherwise, would not be a good idea. Also, perhaps after years of calling for the destruction of Israel, Fatah may be finally coming to the conclusion that soverign rule isn't something to risk to that end.

So, this presents a chance for some diplomatic possibilities. My question in this whole conflict is this: If Israel can negotiate even an uneasy peace with Fatah, and the West Bank, could it make sense to work on this, and work separately on a peace process with Gaza? Does it really make sense to recognize Gaza and the West Bank as one negotiating bloc, or should we start to think of them as two separate entities? After all, Hamas has already basically taken over in Gaza, and has been running the City-state as its own, anyway.

Countries separated geographically are harder to make work, as in East and West Pakistan, post 1947. Eventually, it becomes too much to deal with, logistically. The Hamas take over from Fatah in Gaza certainly made it even more of an impossibility here.

But again, with the separation of the two authorities, there could be an opportunity to bring a peace, and increased economic incentives to the West Bank. Peace in the West Bank could help the process of ending the violence in Gaza. Could it be that we should have been considering a THREE state solution all along here?