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Two-state solution
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The "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007.
A two-state solution envisions two separate states in the Western portion of the historic region of Palestine, one Jewish and another Arab to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict. According to the idea, the Arab inhabitants would be given citizenship by the new Palestinian state; Palestinian refugees would likely be offered such citizenship as well.
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Encyclopedia
The "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007.
A two-state solution envisions two separate states in the Western portion of the historic region of Palestine, one Jewish and another Arab to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict. According to the idea, the Arab inhabitants would be given citizenship by the new Palestinian state; Palestinian refugees would likely be offered such citizenship as well. Arab citizens of present-day Israel would likely have the choice of staying with Israel, or becoming citizens of the new Palestine.
It is contrasted with other options, most notably the Jordanian Option and the binational solution (either a twin federal arrangement or a unitary state),.
The New York Review of Books reported in a 2008 review of the middle east situation that "Throughout the years, polls consistently showed respectable Israeli and Palestinian majorities in favor of a negotiated two-state settlement." A 2007 poll reported that,when forced to choose between a two-state solution and a bi-national state, over one quarter of the Palestinian respondents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip preferred neither, 46% of respondents preferred the two-state over the bi-national solution, and 26% preferred the binational over the two-state. The solution enjoys majority support in Israeli polls as well although there has been some erosion to its prospects over time.
History
Variations on the basic idea have a long history.
The Peel Commission report of 1937 envisioned a partition of the British Mandate of Palestine area into three sections: Arab, Jewish, and a small continued Mandate area (effectively under international control), containing Jerusalem.
Partition was again proposed by the 1947 UN Partition plan for the division of Palestine. It proposed a three-way division, again with Jerusalem held separately, under international control. It too was rejected by the leadership of Arab nations and the Palestinian leadership at the time, although this plan was accepted by the Jewish inhabitants.
Security Council resolutions dating back to 1976 supporting the two state solution based on the pre-1967 lines were vetoed by the USA. The idea has had overwhelming support in the UN General Assembly since the mid 1970's.
Many Palestinians and Israelis, as well as some Arab states, have stated that they would accept a 2-state solution based on pre-1967 lines. According to a 2002 poll conducted by PIPA, 72% of both Palestinians and Israelis supported at that time a peace settlement based on the 1967 borders so long as each group could be reassured that the other side would be cooperative in making the necessary concessions for such a settlement. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran have all accepted the two-state solution.
Recent Events
In the 1990s the pressing need for a peace in the area brought the two-state idea back to centre stage. At one point in the late 1990s, considerable diplomatic work went into negotiating a two-state solution between the parties, including the Oslo Accords and culminating in the Camp David 2000 Summit, and follow-on negotiations at Taba in January 2001. However, no final agreement was reached.
Variations include a Palestinian state in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip or some portion thereof. In some proposals raised in talks with the Palestinians there would have been territorial adjustments involving some small sections of current Israeli territory.
Some far-right Israelis hold that the two-state solution was implemented in 1922 when Britain split off the eastern 75% of the Mandate to create Transjordan which became Jordan, a state with an Arab majority population.
Some Israeli politicians, such as former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, argue for a form of two-state solution in which a Palestinian state is granted most of the attributes of an independent state but denied certain aspects of sovereignty that might allow it to threaten Israel. Netanyahu argues, for example, that the future state's ability to import arms should be restricted. The Palestinian leadership does not view such proposals as being in the true spirit of the two-state solution concept.
Possible two-state solutions have been discussed by the Saudi and US leadership .In 2002, Crown Prince (now King) Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed the Arab Peace Initiative, which garnered the unanimous support of the Arab League. President Bush announced his support for a Palestinian state, opening the way for UN Security Council Resolution 1397 supporting a two state solution. Christian communities in Israel also back the solution.
According to a 2007 poll of adults in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by the Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre, "46.7 per cent of respondents favour a two-state solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict." In second place came support of a binational state with 26.5%. However support is lower among younger Palestinians, with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noting that "Increasingly, the Palestinians who talk about a two-state solution are my age".
At the Annapolis Conference in November, 2007, the three major parties—Palestinians (Fatah but not Hamas government in Gaza), Israelis, and US Americas—agreed on a two-state solution as the outline for Israel-Palestine conflict negotiations. Nevertheless the problems of such a solution are in the details of mainly three topics with great differences of view between the participants, namely the status and borders of Jerusalem and its Temple Mount, the borders of the future Palestinian state and Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the return of the Palestinian refugees.
Main obstacles against a quick consensus are Israeli fears of security without the Jordan valley and full Israeli airspace and frontier control, the Jewish historical religious adherence to the Judaean hills with the Palestinian population centers there (comparable to situation of Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo), Jerusalem as the postulated capital of two states, the "fingers" of Israeli settlements deeply in the Judaean hills with at least three to four practical non-contiguous and non-self-sustainable enclaves of Palestinian population centers as well as the future of localities inhabited by Jews in the West Bank.
Most of these topics have been integrated in the peace proposal of the Geneva accord by Israeli and Palestinian peace activists elaborated and signed under Swiss auspices. But until now it has not been a discussion base directly between the Israeli and Palestinian governments. The more Israeli settlements are built in the West Bank due to the demographic pressure it will be more difficult to find an acceptable peace solution for both sides.
Doubts and Criticisms
More recently, the feasibility of the Two-State Solution has been repeatedly called into question. An article in The New York Times, reported that Egypt and Jordan are concerned about the possibility of having to retake responsibility for Gaza and the West Bank. In effect, the result would be Gaza returning to Egyptian rule, and the West Bank to Jordanian, referred to a the Three state solution. There appear to be signs that such a concept is beginning to come on to the agenda.
In a September 2008 publication of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Giora Eiland wrote that This proposal suggests
that rather than establishing another Arab state,
the parties could return control over most of the
West Bank to Jordan. Until recently, such an idea
was rejected completely by everyone, especially the
Jordanians themselves. Today, however, more and
more Jordanians, Palestinians, and Israelis have
come to believe that this is the right solution. The
main reason for this change of heart is the rise of
Hamas. Israel can curb the group’s ascendancy, but
only as long as Israel occupies the West Bank. If a
Palestinian state is established there, many fear that
it would be taken over by Hamas. Such a scenario
could have far-reaching consequences for Jordan.
To be sure, the notion of pursuing alternative solutions
is not yet politically correct, and therefore no
official Jordanian or Palestinian support could be
given to such efforts at the moment. Nevertheless,
tacit support for this idea has been expressed in private
talks.
Further reading
- Aharon Cohen, Israel and the Arab World (Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1970)
See also
External links
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