Palestinians losing faith in two-state solution

By Wafa Amr - Analysis

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Sixty years ago, Arab leaders rejected the partition of Palestine and with it a United Nations proposal of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Today, despite two decades of growing global consensus for a new "two-state solution", Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories and in camps abroad look on their Jewish neighbors' celebrations of 60 years of independence with a sense that their chances of their own state are disappearing.

On offer is less than 22 percent of British-ruled Palestine -- about half what the U.N. deal offered them 60 years ago.

"Israel's maximum offers don't meet our minimum demands, so we are debating our options in case the talks with Israel fail," a senior Palestinian official told Reuters.

Nearly two decades after their late leader Yasser Arafat gave up on hopes of ruling all of Palestine, many Palestinians question whether they will ever get an acceptable deal on a state, even after Israel's main ally, U.S. President George W. Bush, pushed both sides to resume negotiations six months ago.

"There is a debate now," said analyst Mehdi Abdel-Hadi. "They are saying a two-state solution is a mission impossible."

One option getting an airing, noted Abdel-Hadi, a prominent Palestinian scholar of national affairs, was to push for a "one-state solution", absorbing Jews and Arabs into a single country -- something few Israelis are ready to countenance:

"They're saying ... let's talk about one secular, bi-national state," he said of the debate going on among Palestinians.