Is the two-state option headed back to center stage?
The Likud and other right-wing parties are worried that recent meetings by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and with the opposition's Tzipi Livni could rekindle support for the two-state solution.
In recent days, leaders of Israel's political center-left have managed to generate a measure of public interest in an alternative to the moribund negotiations with the Palestinians. It began with the highly publicized meeting in Paris between former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sept. 21. After the meeting, Olmert said that only Abbas is able to implement the two-state solution.
Several days later, on Sept. 25, an opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, also met with Abbas, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, at a New York City hotel. This event, too, generated major headlines in Israel, largely due to Livni’s aides, who shared information about the meeting with the press.
