position:op-ed page editor

Welcome to the One-state Club, Thomas Friedman
The most famous columnist in the world, who always reflects and shapes the mood in Washington, has finally realized that the two-state solution is dead.

Gideon Levy Feb 13, 2016

▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.703067

A new, highly regarded guy has joined the club. Like new guys, he’s still standing on the side, hesitant, insecure, perhaps lacking courage. Like highly regarded guys, he’s still afraid to move to the center of the stormy dance floor – but he’s there. Give him some time to get used to it. Welcome to the club, Thomas L. Friedman.
The most famous columnist in the world wrote last week in the New York Times: “It’s over, folks, so please stop sending the New York Times Op-Ed page editor your proposals for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians” (The Many Mideast Solutions,” February 10).
With the characteristic tardiness of those trying to position themselves in some imaginary center, Friedman has reached the conclusion that the peace process is dead, that the next U.S. president “will have to deal with an Israel determined to permanently occupy all the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, including where 2.5 million West Bank Palestinians live” and that Israel is no longer the one the presidential candidates’ grandfathers used to know.

The Many Mideast Solutions - The New York Times
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/opinion/the-many-mideast-solutions.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Tout arrive, signalé par Juan Cole je renvoie directement à l’article de Thomas Friedman, qu’il faut prendre pour ce qu’il est naturellement, un homme dont les avis sur la région sont marqués au coin d’un indéfectible soutien à Israël. Avis qui, justement pour cette raison, sont intéressants à connaître. Ses prévisions sont juste apocalyptiques. Et en cette fin de journée, je partage, non pas ses idées, ni même ses analyses mais sa noirceur qui ajoute aux nombreuses craintes qu’on se formule depuis longtemps.

Tout de même, constater que même Friedman ne fait plus semblant de croire à la solution à deux Etats, c’est un signe à prendre en compte... Pour le reste, c’est terrifiant à lire parce que cela représente l’opinion d’une élite US qui s’intéresse aux questions internationales (par le biais israélo-US of course).

... with candidates spouting the usual platitudes about standing with our Israeli and Sunni Arab allies. Here’s a news flash: You can retire those platitudes. Whoever becomes the next president will have to deal with a totally different Middle East.

It will be a Middle East shaped by struggle over a one-state solution, a no-state solution, a non-state solution and a rogue-state solution.

That is, a one-state solution in Israel, a no-state solution in Syria, Yemen and Libya, a non-state solution offered by the Islamic caliphate and a rogue-state solution offered by Iran.

Start with Israel. The peace process is dead. It’s over, folks, so please stop sending the New York Times Op-Ed page editor your proposals for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians. The next U.S. president will have to deal with an Israel determined to permanently occupy all the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, including where 2.5 million West Bank Palestinians live.

(...)

So my advice to all the candidates is: Keep talking about the fantasy Middle East. I can always use a good bedtime story to fall asleep. But get ready for the real thing. This is not your grandfather’s Israel anymore, it’s not your oil company’s Saudi Arabia anymore, it’s not your NATO’s Turkey anymore, it’s not your cabdriver’s Iran anymore and it’s not your radical chic college professor’s Palestine anymore. It’s a wholly different beast now, slouching toward Bethlehem.