One thing I'm interested in is what the various sides see as an acceptable endpoint.

yes there there are some in Hamas who want the Israeli's to leave the region and return it to a Palestinian state.
Clearly that is not at all practical or even possible.

Other Palestinians (probably the majority) just want to live in viable Palestinian country free from oppression from Israel and its settlers. This is increasingly difficult to see how this could happen, as the remaining pockets of Palestinian land aren't conducive to a functioning economy, even without the economic restrictions.


On the Israeli side there are extremists who want all the land for Israel and for the Palestinians to go away. And again there are the vast majority who just want to get on with their lives in peace.

The two solutions people regularly talk about are the 1 and 2 state solutions.

A 1 state solution whereby all the land is absorbed into Israel has some advantages, as the Palestinian people would be able to participate in an advanced rich country. However, there would be much fear and mistrust of each other on both sides, which would make it very difficult to sell this idea. Also in this larger Israel, the Muslim population would outnumber the Jewish population, and is increasing much more rapidly - so this new country would not be a Jewish nation, or it would have to exist with Arabs as second class citizens unable to vote - OR much of the Arab population would have to be expelled to other countries.
Clearly many Israeli's would never want Israel not to be a Jewish nation, but the other possibilities are abominable.


The 2 state solution is what most Palestinians would prefer, but in order for it to be viable I think Israel would need to scale back significantly its expansions and allow a viable state to develop. I can't see any appetite from Israel to allow that to happen.

Where we are today is in a weird half way house, whereby Israel is expanding its borders and making new settlements, making either solution less feasible.

It seems to me that Israel is benefitting a lot more from maintaining the status quo - as they can expand and still have a Jewish nation, but it surely isn't a situation that can go on indefinitely