Palestinians may demand a 'one-state solution'

In a move that could transform the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qureia has warned that he will demand a single state with equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, if Ariel Sharon goes ahead with his threat to annex parts of the West Bank and unilaterally impose a border on a Palestinian state.

Mr Qureia's plan, if implemented, could mean the end of the "two-state solution", the vision of a Palestinian state alongside Israel that formed the basis of the Oslo peace process and has been at the heart of all peace accords since.

The alternative Mr Qureia described, a "one-state solution", is many Israelis' worst nightmare. What Mr Qureia was describing is a single state in all of Israel together with the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip with equal rights for Palestinians. Israelis fear Jews would quickly become a minority in such a state: recent demographic studies predict that, because of their higher birth rate, there will be more Palestinians than Jews in the whole area by 2020.

el - there are recent indications that Sharon is softening his positions in order to prevent this solution.