Anatomy of an illusion: the Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution.

The "two-state solution" to the Arab-Israeli conflict--actually a three-state solvent in which an irredentist Palestine, unstable itself, would destabilize Jordan and Israel--was stillborn in the 1970s. Renewed advocacy of it late last year by "the quartet" of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations prior to Palestinian reform and without realistic prospects thereof contradicted President Bush's June 24 vision of a post-Arafat, non-violent, democratic West Bank and Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's acceptance, albeit qualified, of a 23rd Arab