by Neill Lochery

About the author: Neill Lochery is the director of the Center for Israeli Studies at the University College in London, England.

Ever since Palestinian Authority Leader Yasser Arafat appeared to embrace the idea of the State of Israel alongside a Palestinian state in 1988, and the Israeli government accepted the notion of a Palestinian state by signing the Oslo Accords in 1993, it was presumed that the peace process was moving toward a two-state solution. Commentators such as myself have embraced this concept for years. Sadly, however, I now sense we were wrong. Put simply, the Palestinians are not ready for statehood.

Isay this with the deeply held belief that in a perfect world there would already exist a Palestinian state—one that was politically stable and economically viable...