Analysis: Israel’s fate will be decided in the West Bank

Dr. Michael Milshtein, a senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, writes in an analysis for Ynet that attitudes toward the Palestinian issue have become a litmus test for the changes in Israeli society since October 7. He argues that the profound trauma of that day has stifled critical thinking, replacing it with a reliance on force. Milshtein observes that ideas once considered marginal, such as the annexation of the West Bank, have now become mainstream. He notes a "schizophrenia" in government policy, where leaders simultaneously fuel unrest through settlement expansion and express shock at rising settler violence. The analyst warns that ignoring these realities and racing toward a one-state outcome characterized by discrimination risks international isolation and internal chaos. Milshtein concludes that rather than succumbing to messianic euphoria, Israel must urgently debate sober alternatives, such as physical separation, to preserve its security and democratic character.