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Introduction : two worlds collide -- The Jewish story -- The Arab story -- The emergence of Israel -- The re-emergence of the Palestinians -- The first pass at peace -- The fourth stage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- The downward spiral -- The impasse that remains -- The perfect conflict

The former foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority was one of the negotiators who attempted to get the peace process back on track several months ago. However, in the face of the Obama administration's inconsistency, as it first pushed to restart negotiations and then visibly lost interest, and the intransigence of the Israelis, who, under Benjamin Netanyahu, are determined to give up nothing, Nabil Shaath and his colleagues finally threw in the towel. Their withdrawal from the negotiating process in no way signifies that they have renounced any hope for peace, quite to the contrary. But to move forward, they say, a different government must first come to power in Israel. In the meantime, the Palestinians will continue the fight in the legal arena. Wherever they can demand recognition of their rights-the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, etc.-they will seek recourse against the state of Israel. Adapted from the source document.

Peled's article is a critical examination of Virginia Tilley's "The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock" ( Manchester 2005). Responding to Peled, Tilley defends her book

The term Apartheid was coined to describe the system of segregation, practiced for many years in South Africa. However the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court omitted all references to South Africa in its definition of 'the crime of apartheid' and the term is now defined globally as a crime against humanity. This article explores the similarities and differences between the now abandoned practice of apartheid in South Africa and the current apartheid policies of Israel, highlighting the need to differentiate between Israel proper (within its pre-1967 boundaries), Greater Israel (within the post-1967 boundaries), and Greater Palestine. Whereas Israel claims it offers democratic rights for all its citizens, all seven pillars of apartheid can be shown to exist in the occupied territories, where the Israeli regime is the sole authority, leaving the Palestinian Authority powerless. The article details how the influx of the different immigrant communities to Israel has disenfranchised the Palestinians from their land. It provides a new definition for the policies practiced, and the many ways in which Israel dictates to the lives of the Palestinians, as "Apartheid of a special type". It concludes with a proposal to support the policy of bi-nationalism, as stated in in the Haifa Declaration of 2007, which calls for a "change in the definition of the State of Israel from a Jewish state to a democratic state established on national and civil equality between the two national groups, and enshrining the principles of banning discrimination and of equality between all of its citizens and residents."