Even as Israeli troops prepared to enter Gaza City and Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would retain “security control” after the fighting ends, the war has brought focus back to the two-state solution – seen by the majority of diplomats and Middle East experts as the only possible way to bring a stable peace to the region. For our big story, former Jerusalem correspondent Harriet Sherwood examines how two states would look, whether the will to achieve such a solution exists and who could broker a deal to turn the hope into fruition in the midst of the bloodiest conflict between Hamas and the Israeli state in decades. Columnist Jonathan Freedland, however, pinpoints the poisonous dynamic in the Israel-Palestine conflict that serves to keep the maximalist opponents locked into a deadly dance that aims to prevent any move towards a peaceful resolution ever taking hold in either community.
Engineering may not be a subject to make everyone’s heart sing, but the first of our long-read features this week is a beautiful hymn to the massive structures that help our lives function. Deb Chachra visits a power station buried deep in a Welsh mountain to explain the majesty and sublime complexity of such carefully conceived civic structures that provide us with electricity, sewerage and transportation. It’s a piece that some on the Weekly weren’t initially convinced about when they saw the outline but Chachra’s writing and the fantastic pictures entranced us all.
Zoe Williams got to turn the tables on Louis Theroux when she sparred with the interviewer over what questions to ask him but comes out of the match unbruised as he talks about his childhood and how he approaches the subjects of his award-winning documentaries.
Culture this week features one maestro and several maestras. As a virtual concert by Ryuichi Sakamoto is about to take to the stage in London, its creator, Todd Eckart, explains his relationship with the pioneering Japanese composer and how they worked on the film together before Sakamoto’s death to Laura Barton. And Madrid correspondent Sam Jones explores a groundbreaking exhibition putting overlooked female artists – maestras as they have been dubbed – back on the walls of one of the city’s major galleries.
And finally, our science feature is a flight of imagination beyond the solar system to the edge of the Milky Way as Brian Clegg offers new perspectives on the wonders of space. We hope you enjoy the trip and enjoy catching up with this week’s edition of Guardian Weekly on the journey.
Get the Guardian Weekly magazine delivered to your home address
