Sari Nusseibeh, the one example you offer, is very much a mixed bag. I’m always willing to listen to what people have to say, and to observe what they actually do, but Sari Nusseibeh, for example, has suggested the Palestinians should retake Jaffa, has at times said they should advance a one state solution (which would represent the dissolution of Israel) and has also forwarded the idea of a wholesale right of return, which likewise would effectively represent the dissolution of Israel.

There is also a notable problem with Nusseibeh’s historical accounts, for example as reflected in this review of Nusseibeh’s “Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life.”

In general however, keeping the “idea” of a two state solution in mind is well and good and is in fact a worthwhile goal. But to imagine that long-term goal might be achieved within any imminent timeframe and barring absolutely fundamental reforms throughout that society - reforms that are nowhere in sight (***) - is to indulge an illusion, a tragic one at that.

*** one salient example is the fact that within Hamas’s charter they acknowledge themselves to be an integral part of the Muslim Brotherhood and more importantly overtly declare that the destruction of Israel remains their goal and likewise, in fact, do not recognize the state of Israel. Note, for example, articles 7, 8, 11, 13 and 32, prominently, in the Hamas charter, effectively their founding document and constitution, here.

There is too much territory to cover, but that serves as a partical response.

If a consortium of gangs, together with their families and offspring - some or even many of whom are variously sympathetic characters - decide to embark upon a decades long struggle to take over Hells Kitchen and surrounding territory, also using, in notable part, systematic tactics that involve murder, mayhem, suicide/homicide acts, etc. committed against civilian populations, that also include a sophisticated mix of media and other cooptations - do we in such a case eventually give in to their demands to create a separate enclave, a separate, sovereign nation/state, granting it de facto ligitimacy?

A rough-hewn analogy, but, essentially, what are the minimal, legitimate standards a people needs to measure up to in order to authentically and legitimately claim a nation/state status? It is not in the least clear that the Sunni Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank measure up to that minimal standard.

That doesn’t even broach the question of what they will represent should a facade of formal legitimacy be granted. It is probable, it is highly probable, that their “struggle,” against Israel, would simply continue. Virtually all the evidence suggests precisely that conclusion.