One state for Israelis and Palestinians is 'utopian'

07/05/2006

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by Moderator @ 12:29 PM CST [Link]

Replies: 3 comments

Benjamin Pogrund’s article, "One state for Israelis and Palestinians is 'utopian'", has gotten the situation only half right.

I agree that whether it is one Jewish state with Palestinians, one no brand name state of Palestinians and Jews or one Jewish state without Palestinians however that is conceived of, it is utoptian at this stage.

What Pogrund fails to see is that a two state solution is also within or close to a utopian vision of the future.

Pogrund stated in his article.

"Among Palestinians, the official policy enunciated by the Palestinian
Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas, and confirmed as the majority view in
public opinion surveys, is for a two-state future."

Whatever poll Pogrund is referring to, does not accord with the reality that Hamas supports a one Palestinian state solution with no Israel at all and the majority of Palestinians that elected Hamas knew that and supported Hamas at the election. The election itself seems to me the best poll to take the measure of what Palestinian aspirations are.

Secondly, the Prisoner's Declaration that Abbas and Fatah recently signed onto along with Hamas, has moved even the liberal left media such as Britain's Guardian to acknowledge that in that joint declaration, there is no room for Israel to exist.

Pogrund goes on to state:

The Palestinians who persist in demanding a one-state solution are those who
want to destroy Israel because it is a Jewish state. That is their declared
aim. Its in the Hamas Charter of 1988. It is equally so with Islamic Jihad,
Hezbollah and the rest."

What Pogrund fails to point out or recognize the significance of, is that "the rest" he refers to includes the PA and Fatah which in their charter, they too have retained the call for Israel's destruction. In other words, the majority of Palestinians are in fact demanding a one state solution that calls for the destruction of Israel in the process.

The Prisoner's Declaration is further evidence that whatever differences still exist between the PA/Fatah and Hamas, they share the joint view of the future which view does not allow for Israel to exist.

There are those who might point to the Declarations saying that some form of right to exist will be recognized by Hamas/Fatah if Israel retreats to its 1948 borders and accepts the Palestinian claimed right of return, however these are such impossibilities that the Declaration can only stand for one Palestinian state over the entire region and that the Palestinians as a people claim the right to make that happen by whatever means they deem necessary.

For Israel's part, Israelis generally do seem to want a two state solution, but are much divided on how to achieve it and the extent to which Israel retains sovereignty over parts of the West Bank and Jerusalem. Most Israelis do want there to be a clear separation between Palestinians and Israelis and would support it appears, Olmert's efforts to draw those lines of separation, though support for the unilateralism of Olmert's plan to somehow disengage from the West Bank has now, with the Gazan invasion, considerably reduced to a minority.

The reason those who think they have a realistic handle on the situation and insist that only a two state solution is in the cards and the only outcome possible, is that both Israelis and Palestinians as well as those who have been involved in the Israel - Palestinian failed peace process, have invested themselves so heavily and for so long in the concept of a two state solution. It is not surprising therefore that a two state solution is all that can be seen as being the necessary outcome of a peace process, if that process can be restarted.

What one winds up with therefore is that given the Israeli and Palestinian fundamentally conflicting goals, aspirations, perceptions and definitions of essential terms and concepts of what a two state solution means to them, achieving a two state solution to the Israel - Palestinian conflict, seems about as utopian and remote as a one state solution.

Posted by Bill Narvey @ 07/05/2006 11:41 PM CST

And continuing the occupation and building settlements is not a utopian solution?

Posted by Micha @ 07/06/2006 02:10 PM CST

There is no way that there can be a one state solution. As each family retains its character in a household and will only accept an outsider for a visit, so a nation wants to express itself according to its basic principles and beliefs.
This is the reason that a one state solution will only cause Israel's "household" to disintegrate, which is exactly the reason why Israel should not even consider that solutiion. Besides which as said in the article, the Palestinians don't really want a one state solution, they want a Palestinian solution and "wipe Israel completely off the map" ( as is said in Iran.)

Posted by Angela WIne @ 08/05/2006 12:09 AM CST

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