Israel-Palestine Analysis: Who Wants A One-State Solution?

Let's ask a very basic question: What is the most likely alternative to the two-state solution? For the Israeli right and the majority of Palestinians settled in the West Bank (according to a poll by the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency), it is a one-state agreement. Based on this data, we can read political motivations behind these preferences.

In an article published in Haaretz, former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens argued that Israel had to break its taboos by granting Israeli citizenships to Palestinians. He said:

We are already a binational state and also a multicultural and multi-sector state. The minorities [meaning Arabs] here make up 20 percent of the population --- that's a fact and you can't argue with facts.

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So Palestinians would be granted equal rights, such as the right to vote for a new Knesset. The second generation of Palestinian granted equal rights, if not the first generation, would be enjoy their lives in Jerusalem's telecommunication sectors, on Tel Aviv's beaches (world's 9th best) and in Israel's Hebrew University (which is in the top 100 universities in the world).

Critics from the Israeli "left" contend, however, that while this proposal provides the Palestinians full personal rights, it also envisages a country whose symbols and spirit will remain Jewish: what is sought by the right-wing is a "democratic Jewish Israel". The Palestinian problem would become a domestic issue. Instead of dealing with the Obama Administration, Ramallah's foot-dragging strategies, United Nations' telling offs and "provocative" flotillas, problems related with Palestinians granted Israeli citizenships would turn to their loyalty to the Jewish character of the state or their relatively high birthrate.

On the Palestinian front, those who argue for a one-state alternative and political "vision" assume that Palestinians would overtake the rule of the state through the state's democratic channels. However, the Palestinian question would face new and more complex problems and the nationalist movement could lose its support from the emerging Palestinian elite.

Beyond these political calculations, if the Ma'an poll reflects the general public opinion of Palestinians, questions emerge. Is this a "hopeless" reaction to the division of Palestine and a historical memory of defeat? Is it a surrender to the "enemy"? Or is it weariness of harsh living conditions imposed by politics and the futile hope of the better life lived by their Jewish neighbours?

Comments

[Amir_in_Tel_Aviv]

Mr Arens didn't argue that Israel had to break its taboos by granting Israeli citizenships to (all) Palestinians. In his article in Ha'aretz he mentioned the "Arabs of Judea and Samaria" (Gazan Arabs excluded).

[Jonathan Edelstein]

I think you spotted the fly in the ointment: rightist Israeli one-staters think that the one state will be Israel, and Palestinian one-staters think that the one state will be Palestine. Which means, of course, that if the one-state solution is realized, each will use every trick in the book to make the state conform to their vision. The conflict will not be ended; it will be institutionalized. I don't think a true "Isratine" is really on anyone's agenda.

I've thought for some time that the best solution would be a confederation of two semi-sovereign states with a European Union-style overlay to facilitate dispute resolution and an EU-style package of rights such as free movement and freedom of residence. The Alternative Palestinian Agenda (http://www.ap-agenda.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ap-agenda.org/) is a very intriguing proposal along those lines, which can be called either a two-state or one-state solution depending on the preference of the beholder. It's the only confederal plan I've yet seen that recognizes _both_ Jewish and Palestinian heritage in the region and provides that both peoples will have a right of return. The main quarrel I have with it is that, at least for now, I don't think a unified army is practical -- given the levels of mutual distrust, something like the pre-2005 Bosnia proper-Republika Srpska arrangement would work better. Your mileage may vary, of course -- everyone's seems to, on this issue.