Benjamin Netanyahoo is at it agin, really pushing the envelope this time. He got his ass whipped in Gaza - a David Vs. Goliath battle which ended with an intact and armed Hamas with the moral leadership of the Palestinians (they had already won and been robbed of an election) now the US had to come to the rescue and arrange a halt to the fighting which even though Israel "scored" many more casualties against Palestine than vice versa Israelis, living comfortable lives and wishing some kind of "normality" were denied rest for eight days and were traumatized by that.
Mahmoud Abbas,the unelected chief of parts of the West Bank, ran to the United Nations which turned around and gave Netanyahoo still another smack in the face, one that the US couldn't prevent. Now we know a secret-Palestine is an occupied country! This leads logically to a "two state solution" whereby Israel and Palestine coexist as neighboring states. But no! Israel is building more houses and apartments "for Jews only" on the territory it conquered in 1967 - and this block of apartheid ethnic pure settlements will sever any contiguity in the already rump territory of The SWest Bank (state of Palestine as recognized by the UN General Assembly).
Even the US Secretary of State had to complain about this — and remind Israel that Abbas is trying to be their friend.
This action in the opinion of many puts the kibosh on the whole idea of two states-Israel and Palestine. If that is the case we are logically left with one state - Israel, an apartheid state that holds a large ethnically not acceptable population in a legal limbo of statelessness. Now, we live in an era in which countries are under intense pressure to show at least some aspects of what is jokingly called "democracy" (Please recall that that word nor any derivative word is not found in the US Constitution or it's founding document "The Declaration of Independence.") In order for Israel even to be a make believe democracy like we have here in the USA, they have to not keep people born on land they rule from being citizens — they have to let them vote, let them buy land and rent apartments in any art of the country-or else let them have their own country!This time they are making it impossible for the US to even make believe that a two state solution is the way to go and only details have to be "negotiated"- and the hell with international law.
Either the land between the river and the sea is one country with one class of citizens or it's two countries. Israel has had its cake and been eating it for a very long time and now they are sticking their fingers in the main patrons' eyes. Enough with this already. Obama, tell Bibi he can't keep jerking you around.