Two phenomena-- both intimately linked to the settlement-implantation project that was Ariel Sharon's most serious commitment throughout most of the years since 1967-- are now combining to undermine any chance that a viable two-state outcome might somehow be plucked from the dense demographic intermingling now existing in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The first of these phenomena is the Israeli government's determination to go ahead with constructing 3,500 new housing units in the crucial "E-1" area between East Jerusalem and the (already illegal) Israeli mega-settlement of Ma'ale Adumim-- a decision that Ha'Aretz describes as a "provocation".
The second is the growing prospect that militants among the angry settlers in both the West Bank and Gaza might now escalate their violence in protest against the government's planned Gaza withdrawal to the level of something approaching an inter-Jewish civil war.
These two developments are connected-- in a number of ways. One is that you can realistically assume that the Israeli government's announcement at this time of its intention to proceed with the E-1 construction-- plans for which have existed for several years already, but not hitherto been implemented-- was designed in part to "reassure" the great bulk of Israeli settlers who live in the West Bank that the big plan to continue settlement-building there will continue, even after the withdrawal from Gaza.
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