How rich is it that Russia who invaded Ukraine, claiming that it was, according to Putin, never an independent state, is reportedly circulating a resolution in the UN calling for a ceasefire in the war between the Israelis and Palestinians. I’m for a ceasefire immediately, but why is Russia, the invader and plunderer of Ukraine and Putin, the organizer of this bloody invasion, carrying the water here?

By the same token, one could argue that China and the other BRIC countries are guilty of a double standard as well. When it comes to Russia’s brutal, bloody, and illegal invasion of Ukraine they were and still are silent.

The current “precision” bombing of Gaza isn’t a ramp up to war, it is war. A planned ground invasion that could begin any day is a continuation and intensification of that war. Past time for a ceasefire!

With the settler movement encroaching more and more on land in the West Bank and the IDF planning to shrink Gaza of population and land space in the course of this one sided war, a two state solution would require a return to a status quo ante. Where that exactly is would be an issue of great contention. A one state solution is wishful thinking, I would say, detached from political realities and animosities on the ground. The resistance from both sides would make it completely impractical. Some will surely differ.

For any two state solution to have any meaning or justice, the majority of 600,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank will have to be relocated to Israel. But they will fiercely resist any such action. It’s a deeply reactionary and racist movement. How could it be anything else? Not surprisingly, settlers who have been violently attacking Palestinians in the West Bank with near impunity even before the recent Hamas attack on innocent Israelis, have intensified those attacks in recent weeks.

At some point this deeply reactionary and racist movement will have to be confronted. Otherwise a two state solution is dead on arrival. No Palestinian leader, even a collaborationist one, would sell such a solution that gives legitimacy and legality to the extensive usurpation of land on the West Bank by Israeli settlers.