The Four Messages

Introduction

The Aix Group believes that it is of the highest importance to contribute to the efforts to move the two peoples, Palestinians and Israelis,from the current impasse towards the Two-State-Solution. The contribution of the Aix Group to these efforts is unique, because of the group’s comparative advantage in the economics of the conflict, and because of its large accumulated knowledge on the practicalities of the Two-State-Solution.

The Aix Group has identified four main obstacles that face moving toward a solution to the conflict:

  1. Realism: Many people view the Two-State-Solution as a desirable goal, but are afraid that it is impossible to implement it in reality, due to many reasons, such as the expansions of settlements, the burden of hostility between the two peoples, etc.
  2. The ‘No Partner’ syndrome: Even people who support the Two-State-Solutionare driven to despair by the fact that the two sides have failed to reach it after more than twenty years since the signing of the Oslo (Interim) Agreement.
  3. The illusion of the status quo:When peace is not achieved, people tend to only see the positive aspects of the current situation and hope that the status quo can survive.
  4. The temporary solution approach:Without progress toward a Two-State-Solution, many tend to place their hopes on a piecemeal approach that is short of the endgame, but appears to at least improve the situation on the ground.

In light of these obstacles, we presentfour messages that show that each one of these obstacles is based on either missing or manipulated information..These messages integrate the results and the insights gained in our research. Hence, they are unique to the Aix Group, to its vast research, to its methods of analysis of political economy, and to its commitment to contribute to the advancing of the Two-State-Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The four messages are:

  1. Why the Two-State-Solution has Not Been Achieved?
  2. Are there Partners to the Two-State-Solution?
  3. Why the Status Quo is Unsustainable?
  4. Can We Improve the Situation in the Short-Run Without Harming the Two-State-Solution?