THE TWO-STATE DELUSION: ISRAEL AND PALESTINE A TALE OF TWO

Israel and Palestine have remained gridlocked for decades over final borders, Jerusalem, settlements and refugees. In order to break this stalemate, negotiators would need to overcome not just these practical issues, but the complex psychological factors that make it impossible for the two peoples to find common ground. These include irreconcilable national narratives, deadly complacency and the corrosive mistrust developed over decades of failed negotiations - failures for which each side blames the other. These factors would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to overcome, O'Malley argues, especially as Hamas and even more extreme jihadist groups gain ground in Palestine and Jewish Israelis shift further to the right. Even if these psychological factors were overcome, the gridlock broken and an agreement reached, a range of factors would preclude it from being implemented. 

 

In this urgent, revelatory and unflinching book, O'Malley opens our minds to the vital truth that, in order to achieve a lasting peace, we must set aside our old beliefs about what the solution should be and seek out new frameworks for reconciliation.