Deep Dive: Time To End The Two-State Gatekeeping

In the early morning hours of January 19, an Israeli military force came into the homes of the Salhiyeh family in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. They evicted the family, arresting some of them and leaving the rest of them to watch as, later in the day, bulldozers demolished their homes.

Thanks to the attention Palestinians and their supporters have brought to Sheikh Jarrah, there was some response to this latest Israeli outrage, even if there was, as usual, no material action taken as a result. The world is expressing more discomfort with what can only be described as ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem but is still taking no action to stop it or hold Israel to even the slightest account.

One supportive response came from Rep. Jackie Speier of California. Tweeting a New York Times article covering the episode, Speier wrote: “Where is the humanity? On what basis did the Israeli police evict a family of 15 in the cold of night in East Jerusalem and beat and arrest the male family members! What 2-state solution can be had with continued actions like these?”

It’s a good statement, but it also reflects the inability of not only the United States but virtually all international actors to help in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and putting an end to Israel’s occupation and to its apartheid…