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March 7, 2007
Understanding the conflict
The debate about Two States
While most people involved in discussions of the way forward in the Middle East are committed to a two-state solution a few have always rejected such an approach. Indeed the PLO traditionally called for a 'secular democratic state' which Israelis generally interpreted as hostile to Israel's right to exist. In 1988, however, the PLO accepted this right within the 1967 borders, the remaining lands west of the Jordan to form the new Palestinian state. Recent developments, however, are leading some of the supporters of two states, within Israel and elsewhere, to question its continuing viability as an option. The articles below give a flavour of this on-going discussion. For a fuller set of links to discussions about one-state and federal proposals click here
1. Before it's too lateTerje Roed-Larsen Ha'aretz, October 2002 The author was one of the facilitators of the 1993 Oslo Accords and now serves as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. 'To the international community, I say - it is time to move decisively to put this peace process back on track and reach a two-state solution. Otherwise we must be prepared to address the consequences of its death.'
2. The Bitter Lemons debate Bitterlemons.org is a website that presents Israeli and Palestinian viewpoints on prominent issues of concern... It is produced, edited and partially written by Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian, and Yossi Alpher, an Israeli. Its Edition 25, 8th July 2002 was devoted to the question: 'Is the two state solution still realistic?' Ghassan Khatib argued that Palestinians have no incentives to recognize Israel's right to exist if they are not granted self-determination in the rest of historic Palestine', Yossi Alpher that the two-state option is 'receding fast... because of unprecedented Palestinian population growth, coupled with the folly of Israeli settlement and the hardening of both Israeli and Palestinian peace conditions in the shadow of the intifada.'
Professor Asher Susser (head of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University) puts the problem succinctly in his conclusion: 'Failure to take these steps [i.e. steps leading to a two-state solution] will sooner or later lead Israel into the South Africa model. No longer two states for two peoples, but rather one country between the river and the sea where Palestinian Arabs are a growing majority. At that point Israel will find itself struggling with a Palestinian demand that is already being heard on both sides of the Green Line, for majority rule in a single country...3. Two-state solutions: strategies for Palestinian liberation Weekly Worker 449 Thursday September 26 2002 'A three-cornered debate at Communist University 2002 between Cathy Nugent of the Alliance for Workers' Liberty, Afif Safieh, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's UK representative, and John Bridge of the CPGB. All speakers are committed to a two-state solution for the two peoples and yet, especially when it came to assessing Zionism as a political phenomenon, there exist profound disagreements.'
4. A secular democratic state in historic Palestine: an idea whose time has come? Ghada Karmi July 2002, Al-Adab, Lebanon A thoughtful Palestinian view by Dr Ghada Karmi is a London-based academic and writer. Her most recent book (co-edited with Eugene Cotran), is The Palestinian Exodus, 1948-1998, Ithaca Press, 1999. Her memoir In search of Fatima was published by Versoin October 2002.
5. The '48 Nakba & The Zionist Quest for its Completion Ilan Pappe Dr. Ilan Pappe is a Profesor of History at Haifa University. This article is based upon a lecture presented to the Right To Return Coalition - Al Awda UK, held at the School for Oriental and African Studies in London Monday 16th September 2002. It was circulated on the JustPeaceUK list 'after receiving Dr. Pappe's consent and editorial remarks'.
In the context of 'the comprehensive story of the history of the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1948 and its relevance to the present and future agenda to peace in Palestine', Pappe argues that 'the two-state solution nowadays is not the end of the occupation but continuing it in a different way'.
6. Israel & Palestine: Out of the Ashes Marc Ellis published by Pluto Press 'The struggle over the next fifty years is less the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel, for that could be a state in name only, than the struggle within Israel to recognize its dual population throughout the land, Jews and Palestinians, as equal in dignity and political rights. The goal must be citizenship without reference to ethnic or religious identity and the evolution of a new political and social identity that involves the particularity of Jewish and Palestinian history while transcending both.' Jewish Chronicle article on Marc Ellis
7. A Middle Eastern Confederation: a Regional 'Two-stage' approach to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Jeff Halper
A working paper, December 2002
A critique of the various kinds of one- and two-state solutions, in favour of a possible regional confederation.
See also Jeff Halper's September 2003 contribution (entry no 10 below)
8. Cry, the beloved two-state solution
Meron Benvenisti and Haim Hanegbi, introduced by Ari Shavit Ha'aretz, Thursday, August 07, 2003Benvenisti's roots lie deep in the old Zionist establishment. He was the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek's right-hand man... Hanegbi, in contrast, is a retired revolutionary.
Each of them separately has come to believe that the time has come to establish one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea: a binational state. .
9. The Bi-national State: The Wolf Shall Dwell With The LambUri Avnery, 12th July 2003
c.2,000 words
The ideas in this article express the profound disagreement between Hanegbi (see previous entry) and Avnery. Avnery writes, for instance: "There is no chance at all that the present, post-holocaust, Israeli generation, or its successor, will accept this solution, which conflicts absolutely with the myth and the ethos of Israel."
10. Preparing for a post-Road Map Struggle against ApartheidJeff Halper, ICAHD, September 2003
c. 4,000 words
"Although the failure of the road map marks the end of two nationalisms Israeli Jewish and Palestinian the prospect of a unitary democratic state offers integration, security, development, a mode of life far more conducive to the modern world than narrow sectarian states. If the road map fails and with it the two-state solution, it is hoped that Israel will finally realize the futility of pursuing the path of domination and apartheid, and will pro-actively seize the opportunity to create for itself and its neighbors a peaceful Middle East in which Israeli Jews and Palestinians together will be among the leading forces for democratization and development."
11. One-state awakeningPeter Hirschberg
c. 4,800 words
The story of life-long Zionist Daniel Gavron's latest book The Other Side of Despair: Jews and Arabs in the Promised Land in which he concludes that after 55 years of Jewish sovereignty, the time has come to dissolve the Jewish state and establish, in its place, a single Israeli-Palestinian state.
Tony Judt New York Review of Books, October 23, 2003
c. 3,200 words
To the fury of many, another long-time two-state advocate has changed his mind...
'A binational state in the Middle East would require the emergence, among Jews and Arabs alike, of a new political class. The very idea is an unpromising mix of realism and utopia, hardly an auspicious place to begin. But the alternatives are far, far worse.'Virginia Tilley
New York Review of Books, 6 November 2003
c. 3,800 words
Following on from Tony Judt, Tilley provides a careful analysis of the current situation, the impasse of the two-state solution and the problems - and advantages - of a one-state solution which would recast 'disputes as ethnic arguments within a democratic polity rather than between polarised and mutually demonised Others'. It is, for Tilley the only solution 'that the international community can responsibly now entertain'.
14.Which kind of binational state? Meron Benvenisti
c. 900 words
Benevenisti looks briefly at what binationalism can mean. Rejecting a unitary modelhe briefly introduces four other 'more attractive' alternatives: "consociational democracy"; power sharing and division into federated cantons; cultural and civic local autonomy; and what he calls "undeclared binationalism", a unitary state controlled by one dominant national group - more or less what exists now...
15. Relative Humanity:The Fundamental Obstacle to a One State Solution
Omar Barghouti
Zmag, December 16, 2003
A passionate rejection of the two-state solution.
16. Justice for Palestine? Noam Chomsky
Interview by Stephen R. Shalom and Justin Podur
ZNet, March 30, 2004
A searing attack on one-state proponents:
'There has never been a legitimate proposal for a democratic secular state from any significant Palestinian (or of course Israeli) group. One can debate, abstractly, whether it is "desirable." But it is completely unrealistic. There is no meaningful international support for it, and within Israel, opposition to it is close to universal. It is understood that this would soon become a Palestinian state with a Jewish minority, and with no guarantee for either democracy or secularism (even if the minority status would be accepted, which it would not). Those who are now calling for a democratic secular state are, in my opinion, in effect providing weapons to the most extreme and violent elements in Israel and the US.'
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