Can a two-state solution still achieve peace in the Middle East, or is it becoming an unattainable dream? This article explores the challenges and possibilities of a two-state solution, analyzing the perspectives of key figures and the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Over the next four years, all indications are that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu may extinguish any possibility of a two-state solution in the Middle East. Many of Israel 's far-right supporters in Australia, the US and elsewhere will celebrate this — Israel would effectively annex the Occupied Palestinian Territories, giving Israel more land and achieving the long-held aspiration of a 'Greater Israel '. But celebration would be misplaced.
Any permanent land grab by Israel will come at the price of permanent conflict. The Palestinian population in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem is growing and should it become official that they have no hope of any sovereign state or the same civil rights as the Jews who they walk by in the street the situation will become even more dangerous than it is at the moment. As Ami Ayalon, a former head of Israel's security service Shin Bet, told me last year, Israelis will not have security while Palestinians are denied their rights. And that's from a man who has run the country's security service and knows the reality of Israelis and Palestinians better than most.Four Corners talks to insiders in Israel's defence and intelligence establishment to challenge them about one of the most controversial wars in modern times — the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The international community has pushed for the two-state solution to the age-old Israeli-Arab conflict. Palestinian Arabs rejected the partition plan, which they believed unfairly divided the land. The two-state solution remains the only viable political solution to this conflict. Many on either side want total victory over the other — that is not a sustainable solution. Large numbers of the 500,000 or so Jewish settlers who have moved into the Palestinian Territories in recent decades are there for cheap land. The Hebrew teacher I had when I lived for six years in Israel was a case in point — he bought a three-bedroom apartment in a Jewish settlement on Palestinian land, Har Homa, for the same price as it would have cost him for a one or two bedroom apartment in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. 'I'm getting an extra bedroom!' he told me with delight. An apartment or house is so much cheaper when the land is free. Israel has taken more and more land in recent decades and not had to pay for any of it — in many cases settlers, who are given weapons by the Israeli army, have simply laid claim to land they have wanted and then begun building. Those who founded the state of Israel in 1948 agreed that Israel would be established in return for an independent state next to them, which would be Palestine. That was the deal. It was driven by the international community with people such as Australia's Doc Evatt leading the push. But it does not make it impossible. While the possibility of a two-state solution is certainly on life-support, those who want to avoid a forever war continue to hold onto the hope of such a notion. Any chance of achieving a two-state solution would require carrot and stick. The carrot could be for the US, European Union and others to contribute to a fund from which each settler family in the West Bank could be offered a significant amount of money — perhaps $US1 million to move back to Israel. Given how much the US pays to fund Israel's military, it would be a relatively low cost — and a good investment. For decades world leaders have agreed the only way to bring about peace between Israelis and Palestinians is through a two-state solution. So why hasn't it happened? Many of the Jewish settlers currently in the West Bank are likely to accept, as they are in the West Bank for economic reasons. Then the stick: the hard-line religious ideologues who refused to leave could be given the option to remain and become Palestinian citizens — an option they would be unlikely to take — or be physically dragged out, as Israel did when it expelled 800,000 Palestinians from their homes in 1948. The alternative to forcing this evacuation is a future of perennial violence, a taste of which the world saw when Hamas stormed across the Israeli border on October 7. Israel is one of the last countries on earth that runs an occupation over another people — as the French, Syrians and others found out, maintaining occupations is expensive in terms of lives and resources. No conflict is unsolvable. The Northern Ireland conflict was seen by many as intractable. The Irish Republican Army was designated a terrorist organisation — civilians in London were being blown up by IRA bombs while Irish civilians were being caught in the middle of violence between the IRA and the British army. But both sides were prepared to make difficult compromises, and fewer civilians in London and Belfast have been killed as a result. South African apartheid was also seen as unsolvable. Like the IRA, the African National Congress was designated by many a terrorist organisation, with Nelson Mandela being the leader of that terrorist organisation. Again, both sides had to make compromises
MIDDLE EAST ISRAEL PALESTINE TWO-STATE SOLUTION PEACE CONFLICT SETTLERS OCCUPATION INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
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