Seen from the West Bank, debates over the two-state solution, based on the recognition of a sovereign Palestinian entity alongside Israel, often seem completely divorced from reality. Not because the concept is absurd or inappropriate, but because on the ground, the objective runs up against an inextricable situation.

A glance at a map is all it takes to understand. All the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 have been gnawed away by settlements, carved up by checkpoints, blocked by hundreds of kilometers of walls and divided into various zones that fall, in theory, under different administrative and security authorities, but where the Israeli army operates with complete freedom. Which is to say nothing of the thousands of barriers the Israeli authorities have installed to prevent Palestinians from moving freely.

The result is that from north to south, the West Bank resembles a gigantic puzzle. The strategic region of Jerusalem is no exception. Its eastern section, occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, is claimed by the Palestinians as the capital of their future state. The whole occupied territory is a true labyrinth where antagonistic populations live side by side: three million Palestinians and 700,000 Israeli settlers, the latter residing in 141 settlements that are illegal under international law, as well as in 224 outposts, settlements considered illegal even under Israeli law.

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