Superimposing a Solution

The BBC has pulled back from its earlier report today that an impending Fatah-Hamas deal would include the provision that Hamas implicitly recognizes Israel’s right to exist. They are now reporting that while Fatah and Hamas have agreed to a common political strategy, the accord has no mention of recognizing Israel. Despite this new accord – the text of which hasn’t been released – Israel has stated that it has no bearing on the current crisis. Israeli troops and armed Palestinian militants are massing on either side of the Gaza border. Progress that seemed to be made after the meeting between Olmert and Abbas last week appears naive in hindsight.

But in a new ForeignPolicy.com exclusive, former Swedish diplomat Mathias Mossberg has a radical proposal for ending the territorial stalemate in Israel and the occupied territories. What if Israelis and Palestinians abandoned the seemingly endless and bloody road to a two-state solution, and instead adopted a completely original form of statehood? What if they adopted not two states next to one another, but states on top of one another? Check it out.