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Watching the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians drag on year after year without conclusion, it is easy to overlook the enormous changes that have taken place on the ground since the Oslo accords were signed 17 years ago.

Each has undermined the Palestinians' primary goal of achieving viable statehood, whether it is the near-trebling of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to the current numbers of half a million, Israel's increasing stranglehold on East Jerusalem, the wall that has effectively annexed large slices of the West Bank to Israel, or the splitting of the Palestinian national movement into rival camps following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.