THE NEWS EDIT: IS THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION FADING?

Source: Lewis University (https://www.lewisu.edu/experts/wordpress/index.php/windows-on-the-israel-palestine-conflict/)

In 1993, the Oslo peace accords signed by Israel and Palestine appeared to symbolise the most progressive step forward in the peace negotiations process to date and the closest that both sides had ever been to fulfilling a two-state solution. 25 years on and the moment of opportunity which came with the Oslo accords has been completely shattered, as Israelis and Palestinians continue to treat one another with suspicion and hostility. Indeed, it would seem in recent years that the only relative area of agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, is that the dream of the two-state solution has faded away. I want to explore whether, if the collapse of the peace process in 2001 really did symbolise the death of the two-state solution, what now? 

At the heart of the world's bitterest conflict, the inability of both Israelis and Palestinians to live with one another continues to completely transform the political geography of the region, particularly within the settlements. A nationalist wave of politics on both sides of the conflict continues to push against the widely uttered two-state narrative. But without a shared identity, a shared sense of the nation, without a shared sense of history even, the seemingly unbridgeable gulf of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires fresh thinking and a revived focus for future discussion. 

I would argue that it's important to consider how to replace the blueprint narrative of the two-state solution. But the single state solution for example, with equal rights for all, is doubtlessly controversial. After-all, a single state solution completely degrades the Zionist dream of a Jewish state and many Palestinians will accept nothing less than absolute Palestinian independence over the whole of Mandate Palestine. But as I will go on to explain, although there shouldn't be a complete abandonment on the two-state narrative, global efforts to broker peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should really start to focus on the creation of a federation state with equal rights for all. 

Despite Israel's best efforts to create a solution by force, the conflict's solution should firstly be down to the negotiation of the two separate states living side by side. But the two state solution will never be realised if the unequal power relations between Israelis and Palestinians persist. The post-1967 borders drawn up by Israel have created a power dynamic whereby Palestinians are powerless to negotiate: dispossession, despair and rage is emblematic of the Palestinian story. For as long as the state of Israel continues to dominate the region through the occupation, Palestinians will continue their armed struggle against them. I doubt that even renewed external efforts to put pressure on Israel to end the occupation will succeed especially while Trump is the President of the US...

Despite how Israeli officials often mouth the language of the two state solution, I can't help but feeling that these are hollow and empty words. For starters, where are the strategies to make this happen? The cornerstone of Israel's defensive and pre-emptive strategies has and always will be security, based upon the right of Israel to defend itself against the 'terrorist' actions of Palestinians.  The formation of the quasi-constitutional nation state of the Jewish people in July 2018 further demonstrates Israel's wish to fulfil an ethnic hierarchy, displaying the utmost contempt for the people of the occupied areas and indeed, for the Israeli Arabs who never left. 

I advocate a shared space for all, which carries equal rights for all citizens. A single state solution which belongs to all of its citizens and whereby all Israeli citizens are fully absorbed into Israeli society. While I am fully aware of the Palestinian  armed resistance' wrongdoings of course, it my greatest belief that Israel must relinquish its extensive grip of the region's occupied territory.  To continue on with the occupation is not only politically isolating for the state of Israel, but with it lies enormous political and military risk. As one of the four pillars of the seemingly unbridgeable conflict, reversing it will bring its complications. After-all, what to do with the powerful bloc of Israeli settlements which lie within the West Bank?  But contrary to the position Israeli politicians seem to have adopted since the 1990s, this should't be somebody else's problem to fix in the future. The time to act is now. 

A federation of Israel and Palestine, with a series of self governing communities whereby all citizens have the same political, economic and social rights under the same political framework. I realise of course, that this solution will never fully satisfy the demands of both sides. Some will argue how can there be a Jewish state if non-Jewish voters are also democratic? Others will contend that the Palestinian people shouldn't accept anything other than absolute Palestinian autonomy over the region. I completely respect that the one state solution is highly controversial. 

But to cast it aside completely, is to ignore some hard truths about the nature of the conflict. Firstly, that there has never been a shared language of common values across the region. Murder is  murder; it shouldn't be considered as a heinous crime for a Palestinian and a heroic deed for an Israeli Sabra. Secondly, the peace process has been inconsistent from the beginning; waiting for a political climax where tensions are at an all time high (such as after the First Palestinian Intifada, culminating into the Oslo Accords) should not be the reason to instigate change. Israel must put its over-emphatic security concerns to one side and both must vow to stop launching pre-emptive strikes against the other. Instead, their attentions and efforts should be immersed in rewriting the unequal power relations of the region by reversing the occupation and focusing on creating a society for all of its' citizens.

Without an equal level playing field to negotiate peace from, history will continue to repeat itself. For decades, Arab majority states (with Nasser as the figurehead) rallied Palestinian nationalists and the discovered the power of the philosophy of revolution for the Palestinians who longed for home. When the realities of long term struggle set in for Palestinians in the late 1940s, whose hope of immediate return had long since vanished, the liberation of Palestine became the only kind of future they could accept. Life under the occupation has been no different. When it became clear that no government in the world would force Israel to accept 149, young men and women born into the occupied territories or in exile and their determination to restore their families' dignity has only deepened. Indeed, the Israeli mantra of 'Never Again' and their determination to shy away from their image as the ultimate victims have filtered down to every aspect of policy making, but most notably of their aggressive and pre-emptive military action in the occupied territories and toward other Arab nations who have rallied for the liberation of Palestine in the past. 

The occupation has, in many ways, sealed the fate of the region. The longer the occupation endures, the less likely it is that Palestinians will make any compromise on their right to return. But the creation of a shared space for all, with equal mobility, political rights and freedom for all, is the only real chance that both sides have to create a long lasting peace. 

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