One State, Two States. Do I Hear Three?

[Meshuga]

A few weeks ago I participated in a panel on the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The panel consisted of a Palestinian-American spokesman and me. The two of us have been teamed up before although we tend not to disagree on very much. In other words, no fireworks.

Both of us support the two-state solution and, although there are differences between us on some of the issues that divide the two sides, they are minor compared to our agreement on the central issue.

My "job" was fairly easy. Almost all the people in the audience were supporters of the two-state idea and, in fact, view it as the only possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My Palestinian friend, on the other hand, was given a rough going over by some of his fellow Palestinians who oppose the two-state solution and favor Israel's replacement by a state "for all the people who live there."

At one point a Palestinian student -- angered by my colleague’s insistence that the only alternative to two-states was a war that the Palestinians would lose -- insisted that those advocating the one-state idea were not advocating violence. "We don't support violence against Israelis. The state we envision can be established without violence."

My friend laughed that off. "So you think the Knesset will decide one day to simply declare the State of Israel out of existence? And that will be that?"

He then added that, as the grandchild of people who were forced from their homes in Jerusalem in 1948, he was not prepared to wait forever for the opportunity to return to some part of Palestine, if he so chose. A West Bank/Gaza state with a capital in the Arab part of Jerusalem was the best he could hope for. That and peace with Israel. He cited polls that showed that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza agree with him.

The radical Palestinians didn't want to hear it. Of course, most of them have no intention of living in Palestine anyway so their militancy comes on the cheap. They are analogous to the American Jews who reject the very idea of compromise with the Palestinians but do not have to live with the consequences of their inflexibility.

http://www.ipforum.org/display.cfm?id=6&Sub=15

[Ian David]

1. Three states? Israel, Palestine and Hamasistan? n/t

[Tom Joad]

2. Currently what exists is one large apartheid state.

[Meshuga]

3. Thanks for such a profound response

Judging by reading your posts I wouldn't expect you to accept middle of the road opinions on the subject.

[oberliner]

4. Not according to Jimmy Carter

From President Carter's remarks at Brandies:

Let me refer now to my use of the word “apartheid.” I realize that this has caused great concern in the Jewish community. The title makes it clear that the book is about conditions and events in the Palestinian territories and not in Israel.