Rice's Fear of the One-State Solution

Most of the mainstream press missed it, and her own website doesn't mention it either, but Condi Rice dropped something of a bomb-shell during her testimony on the Middle East to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. (video)

The main substance of her prepared remarks on the upcoming Annapolis peace conference reflected significant support for the Palestinian side. In language that seemed a little blunter than usual, she stated categorically, "Israel must stop settlement expansion and remove unauthorized outposts." Palestinian leader Abbas and Arab diplomats have been complaining that Israel's settlement policy essentially is a sign of bad faith going into the peace conference.

The bombshell came in the Q&A afterwards, when she warned that time was running out to negotiate a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Our concern is growing that without a serious political prospect for the Palestinians that gives to moderate leaders a horizon that they can show to their people that indeed there is a two-state solution that is possible, we will lose the window for a two-state solution.

The comment coming from the top American diplomat is important. It seemed to be both a sober American appraisal of the dire state of the peace process and a warning to Israel that it will have a profound problem on its hands down the road if it doesn't seize the opportunity to make a deal with Abbas now.

Rice is basically warning that trends may be moving in favor of Hamas, the prime advocate of a one-state solution to the problem. Israel will not accept signing its own death warrant to accomodate Hamas's demand for one Arab Muslim state, of course. But another implication that can be read into Rice's comment is that when the window for a two-state solution is closed, Israel will be faced with a demographic time tomb that threatens a Muslim majority within the land it controls. At that point, Israel would face a fateful conundrum: allow a democratic majority to rule, which would threaten Israel's existence through the ballot box, or establish an unviable apartheid system thay would bring international isolation and probably collapse.

--By Scott MacLeod/Dubai