We may not agree with Darwish on everything but boy does he get it. The above statement encapsulates what I have long felt is the key to the intractability of this conflict.

Suppose you could wave a magic wand and solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict overnight: the fabled “two-state solution”, a complete end to terrorism, trade relations between the two states (if not undying love). What happens next? Arabs can visit Israel and witness first-hand a vibrant, open society. And then they start wondering what is wrong with their own countries. It is *not* in the interest of the backward, despotic regimes of the Middle East to have this come about and so the conflict goes on and on and on and on …