Thinking the Unthinkable: a One-State Solution to the Arab-Israeli Conflict?
It is not hard to understand the feelings of isolation and aloneness that many Israeli Jews must feel, as they watch the daily unfolding of events, which have already ousted dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, with a promise of more to come. To make matters worse, the U.S. will never again be able to exercise the degree of influence favorable to Israel that it once had over the previous dictatorial regimes in the Arab world. Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak, for example, had been able during his tenure in office to suppress anti-Israel public opinion within his country.
Israel's growing sense of peril has thrust the most intractable elements within Jewish society to the fore, refusing even to halt construction on settlements in Arab territory. So, where does this state of affairs leave America, whose strategic interests are being eroded by this continued Arab-Israeli conflict?
The answer, quite simply, is that the two state-solution is dead. That is, Israeli society will never agree to a militarized Palestinian state on its borders. Nor will the Palestinians accept a state in which its neighbor controls their borders, their capability to engage in military actions, their airspace and their water rights, given that much of the land in what would become the new Palestine is desert.
This stalement is pushing a growing number of Americans to contemplate for the first time what may be the only option left for bringing a durable peace to this troubled region. It is Israel's transformation into a multi-ethnic, secular, democratic state, more reflective of American society and its values. Journalist Ali Abunimah's latest book, One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, grapples with many of the details of creating one state shared by two peoples.
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Israel's growing sense of peril has thrust the most intractable elements within Jewish society to the fore, refusing even to halt construction on settlements in Arab territory. So, where does this state of affairs leave America, whose strategic interests are being eroded by this continued Arab-Israeli conflict?
The answer, quite simply, is that the two state-solution is dead. That is, Israeli society will never agree to a militarized Palestinian state on its borders. Nor will the Palestinians accept a state in which its neighbor controls their borders, their capability to engage in military actions, their airspace and their water rights, given that much of the land in what would become the new Palestine is desert.
This stalement is pushing a growing number of Americans to contemplate for the first time what may be the only option left for bringing a durable peace to this troubled region. It is Israel's transformation into a multi-ethnic, secular, democratic state, more reflective of American society and its values. Journalist Ali Abunimah's latest book, One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, grapples with many of the details of creating one state shared by two peoples.
BACK TO HOMEPAGE
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