Some folks at the Economist are convinced that the biggest obstacle to resolving the Israeli-Palistinian conflict and their territorial differences is the intractably clumsy and dysfunctional Israeli electoral system--and the impossibly demanding level of political consensus it requires to act.
According to the article, a substantial majority of Israelis favor a separate Palistinian state and peaceful coexistence. But that majority is constantly frustrated by the array of small, even numerically insignificant, political parties and their different issues and interests, resulting in the fragmentation of Israel's will, voice, and ability to act. Of course, there is plenty of dysfunctionality on the Palistinian sides of the walls as well. There are powerful political forces there who do not see their purposes served by removing Israel as the regional whipping boy. Complicated stuff, and more complicated than this short piece suggests. But their point may well be a good one--just one more dispiriting aspect of so many well intentioned, but failed and futile efforts to accomplish what would seem so obvious, so logical, so right.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10960108
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