Road to Peace or Illusion of Hope?
The Two-State Solution to the Question of Palestine
The two-state solution to the political conflict in Israel and Palestine was supposed to be discussed at a United Nations (UN) conference this week. However, due to the missile attacks that are currently going back and forth between Israel and Iran, the UN conference was postponed. French president Emmanuel Macron reportedly states that this is not the right time to discuss the political future of Israel and Palestine, because of “logistical and security reasons”.
But what was actually supposed to be discussed at the conference? What is the widely discussed two-state solution really about?
In the context of a long political struggle over land between the Israeli and the Palestinian people, the two-state solution as we understand it today represents the idea that there should be two separate independent states in the region; Israel and Palestine. The idea behind this is that having two independent states is the only way to create peace in the region.
The origins of the two-state solution
Click here for interactive podcast!
Israeli nationalism,
Hamas& the
one-state reality
Over the course of history, the two-state solution to the political conflict in Israel and Palestine has often been discussed in international politics. But it was never actually implemented and enforced in the region, for various political reasons. And to this day, the political situation in Israel and Palestine is creating big obstacles to an effective implementation of the two-state solution.
So what is the political situation in Israel and Palestine today?
Well, the answer to that question has many different layers.
Israel & Palestine
First of all, the state of Israel is rather well-established, as it has full political control over all the land that was previously Palestine, except for the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip. Israel is home to more than 9 million people, and has become a strong military power, mainly because it has always been backed - politically, economically, and militarily - by the United States and Western Europe.
“If Israel, let’s say, colonizes something, it immediately comes together with zoning, where building is absolutely not allowed for Palestinians.”
The land currently assigned to the Palestinian people in the area, however, is limited to the West Bank and Gaza, where over 5 million people live. 147 countries recognize that Palestine is a state, but Palestine’s political organization is divided and unstable. Palestine’s government is split between the West Bank and Gaza, as the former is governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the latter is controlled by the revolutionary anti-Israel movement Hamas.
In addition, Israel has control over most of the Palestinian borders, which enables Israel to largely determine what goes in and out of the Palestinian territories. And Israeli settlers have been building their own settlements in the West Bank, which is illegal by international law, leading to a situation in which more than 700,000 Israeli settlers are living illegally in the West Bank.
“If you look at what the settlements mean in practice,” Bertus Hendriks, a retired Dutch journalist, Middle East expert, and activist for Palestinian rights, tells The Glass Room. “If Israel, let’s say, colonizes something, it immediately comes together with zoning, where building is absolutely not allowed for Palestinians.”
“So then every Palestinian who had pasture ground for sheep there, sees their sheep being chased away, if they aren’t simply being shot,” Hendriks adds. “So the lifeline of shepherds with their sheep is also affected.”
Increased nationalism & war
Ever since the second intifada, there has been a more pronounced trend towards political nationalism in both Palestine and Israel. In Gaza, Hamas came to power in 2007, a movement that promises to fight against the Israeli occupation. Meanwhile, in Israel the political emphasis started shifting more and more from conflict resolution to promoting Israeli national security at the expense of Palestinians’ security. In recent years, the far-right rhetoric of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government has led to the increasing diabolization of Palestinian people, while Hamas has been using similar rhetoric to demonize the state of Israel and to mobilize public support for violence against Israel.
Fueled by narratives of antagonism and hatred, there have been many deadly attacks over the years on both the Israeli and the Palestinian side.
On the 7th of October 2023, the political tensions escalated again when Hamas attacked a music festival in Israel, killing 1195 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza. Following this attack, Israel has started a large-scale military bombing campaign and invasion of Gaza, creating an enormous humanitarian crisis in the region. With the proclaimed intention of destroying Hamas and bringing back the Israeli hostages, Israel has bombed hospitals, schools, aid convoys, and residential neighborhoods in Gaza, killing tens of thousands of Palestinian people, mostly civilians. Given the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the suspected intentional killing of civilians, many experts - including a UN Special Committee, Amnesty International, and various genocide scholars - argue that Israel is committing a genocide against the people in Gaza. The violence that has been going on since October 7th 2023 has become known as the Gaza War, and continues to this day.
“It is just one state now, but it is a state of apartheid”, Hendriks says about the current political situation in Israel and Palestine. He points to the existence of two justice systems in the West Bank, one for the Jewish settlers and one for the original Palestinian inhabitants.
The current political situation in Israel and Palestine overall seems to be characterized by violence, suffering, and uncertainty, and by the one-state reality of the dominant state of Israel.
A long-term solution to the political conflict in Israel and Palestine seems necessary to bring an end to the violence in the region.
Could the two-state solution provide an effective answer here?
Image by Gidon Pico from Pixabay
Image by Gidon Pico from Pixabay
By Gidon Pico from Pixabay
By Gidon Pico from Pixabay
By Jaber Jehad Badwan from Wiki Commons
By Jaber Jehad Badwan from Wiki Commons
Number one solution?
To many people in Israel, Palestine, and internationally, the two-state solution is still the most desirable solution to the conflict. Especially in the international community there is a lot of support for this solution, as many countries, as well as the UN General Assembly and the European Union, underwrite its importance.
Just a few weeks ago, UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized the importance of keeping the two-state solution alive, according to UN News. Guterres argued that the two-state solution is the only way to peace, and that there is no alternative.
"Palestinians have always, for decades, been advocating for their own independent sovereign state with full equal rights"
For many Palestinians the two-state solution is important, because its implementation would allow them to have their own state.
“Palestinians have always, for decades, been advocating for their own independent sovereign state with full equal rights,” says Fatima Awad*, a Palestinian advocate for Palestinian rights. “And that’s something we’ve always wanted. And we’re happy that this discussion has been revived.”
However, there appear to be serious obstacles to the implementation of this solution.
* Not her real name. Fatima Awad’s real name is known to the authors.
Obstacles
“We’re hesitant of what’s to come from this conference [the postponed UN conference on the two-state solution], and these countries,” says Awad. “Because it seems like they’re not really listening to Palestinian voices, and what we want, and what statehood means.”
She points to the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and asks where the Palestinian state would have to exist, if Palestinian land is being colonized by Israel.
“So when they say a state, what do they mean by that?” Awad asks. “Where's the land for that state? I think that's a central issue for Palestinians.”
“And both groups will say, how can we guarantee our safety?”, says Sasha Goldstein-Sabbah, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Groningen. She mentions the fact that both Israelis and Palestinians would be worried about how the security of their country could be ensured in a two-state solution as another obstacle to this solution.
“And both groups will say, how can we guarantee our safety?”
Another major obstacle to the two-state solution appears to be the unwillingness of Israel to accept this as a solution. The current government of Israel is explicitly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, and does not want to negotiate on the subject. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said multiple times that he is unwilling to accept the very idea of Palestinian statehood.
“While in theory I would love to say of course we would want a two-state solution, in practice we know that it’s not possible,” says Awad. “Because Israel doesn't want that. And they made it clear they don't want that. By the continued stealing of more Palestinian land, the continued expansion of settlements, killing of Palestinians, controlling everything within Palestine.”
Retired Middle East expert Bertus Hendriks agrees with the notion that the Israeli government is opposing the implementation of the two-state solution: “Israel is of course firstly responsible for sabotaging the execution of the Oslo Accords.” He explains further that Israel has been counteracting the Oslo Accords and two-state solution, by continuing to build settlements in the West Bank and maintaining a political system of apartheid. “And I think the international community should have put more effort into forcing Israel to execute the Oslo Accords in good faith”, Hendriks adds.
Additionally, Hamas in Gaza has always expressed its reluctance to accept and recognize an Israeli state. The militant group has expressed openness to a two-state solution at various times - though it seemed to refer mostly to this as a temporary solution -, but Hamas also maintains that it will continue to fight against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. It is unclear how much of the land this refers to, and if Hamas would ever be willing to exist peacefully alongside Israel.
Even though Hamas represents a minority of Palestinians, it's rhetoric is used by Israel as a justification for not recognizing a Palestinian state, and for continuing its war in Gaza.
A new paradigm?
The two-state solution is an idea that still enjoys a lot of support in international politics, but due to its limitations, there are voices against the solution and what it represents. Some are opposed to having two independent states, others have started to believe it is an unrealistic goal to achieve.
To the latter group belongs Ian Lustick, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. In his book Paradigm Lost (2019), he points out that a solution requires both an ideal outcome and a plausible route towards reaching that outcome, and he argues that the two-state solution does not have this plausible route.
“The paradigm of the two-state solution is lost, in the sense that it’s no longer useful for forecasting the future,” Lustick tells The Glass Room. “It’s also no longer useful for understanding what’s going on.”
The political scientist does not know what a real solution to the political conflict in Israel and Palestine would look like, and says that there is currently no plausible route for any solution.
“Saying there's no solution doesn't mean there is no imperative to act, and no guidance for action, but it means moving the time frame that you imagine a real solution is going to come into view, from months or years, to even decades or generations,” Lustick adds. “What you do is you still take your values, high value of democracy, equality, non-exclusivity, rights to self determination, and you act on those values.”
All in all, the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine is still very much alive in the region and in international politics, and for many it offers hope that a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians is possible. However, there are currently many factors - Israel’s opposition to the plan in particular - that stand in the way of an effective implementation of a two-state policy, and many people have started to believe that the solution is just an illusion.
