Israel will no doubt be condemned by those failing to take the whole situation into account, but it has been compelled to cut power to the ancient city of Jericho over a massive unpaid electric bill.

The Palestinian Authority currently owes the Israel Electric Company over 1.7 billion shekels ($450 million).

In yet another effort to force the Palestinian leadership to pay up, power will be cut intermittently to Jericho in the coming days.

An Electric Company official was quoted by Israel National News as saying the Jericho power outage would be “open-ended.”

But Israel has tried in the past to get the Palestinian Authority to honor its debts, only to roundly condemned by the US State Department.

The episode just confirms for many Israelis why the two-state solution as it stands will not lead to peace. A Palestinian state will remain wholly dependent on Israel for even basic needs like electricity, but will fail to pay for those services, confident that the international community would never allow Israel to demand recompense.