One State, Two States Few, if any, modern conflicts are as complex as the Arab-Israeli conflict. Specifically, the political situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has led to bloodshed, political high wire acts, and cycles of hope and disappointment for decades. Consensus has generally leaned towards advocated a two-state solution for the conflict, in which the Israel remains a Jewish state, and the Palestinian Arabs establish their own country carved from currently Israeli-occupied territories. This solution has become more infeasible, not more attainable, efforts to find a lasting peace have occurred. The main alternative, a one-state solution, in which one nation takes full control of the Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, …show more content…
While UN Security Council Resolution 242 called for Israel to remove itself from these areas and return to its pre-1967 War borders (Farsakh 2005), Israel continued its presence in the region. In the years that have followed, numerous solutions have been proposed to solve the crisis and to bring a lasting peace and sense of stability to the area. The solution most supported up to now has been the two-state solution. In this solution, parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (likely the full area in the latter) would become part of an independent, self-governing Palestinian state, while the rest of the area would become Israeli territory. With this, Palestinians would have a nation-state and could chart their own political and cultural course. Most nations and international organizations have lent their support to this idea, including the US, the UN, and Israel and Palestinian Authority (Sanger 2016), forming the basis for most peace talks aiming to resolve the conflict. The question that now remains is why has this solution not yet been achieved? The disagreement on the borders of each state remains one of the primary roadblocks to achieving the two-state solution. There exists no consensus on which land would belong to Israel and which to an independent Palestinian state. One complicating issue in
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the one of the world’s oldest conflicts, and it is still an ongoing problem in the world. Zionists and Arabs: two groups with conflicting beliefs who both claim Israel as their own. In wake of the Holocaust the U.N decided to gift the Jews a homeland for the lives lost in the genocide. In 1947, the U.N Partition divided the land of Israel (Historic Palestine) into two separate states: Arab and Jewish. Since then, the state of Israel has been the center of conflict between the Arabs and the Zionists. As time passed the Zionists gained more land from winning the Six-Day War, and consequently the Palestinians had to live as refugees in other Arab countries. Additionally, more than 75% of the land belonged to
With an uncanny ability to convey his argument in a concise and precise manner, Benny Morris’s book One State, Two States quite comprehensively discredits the belief that a so-called ‘One State’ solution may bring peace to the region between the Mediterranean and the Jordan. As an academic and a professor of history at the Ben-Gurion University in Israel, one should be able to hold Morris’s text in high regard for his academic integrity. Unfortunately, it could be argued that to do so would be a staunch mistake, as he strongly evokes subjectivity and bias in his narrative. With a primary focus on the perspective of his own nation, Morris draws on a large number of source material and quotes, but appears to have left strong Arab Palestinian
The two solutions are the One-State and Two-State solutions, and each is self-explanatory. The One-State solution would have Israel annex all Palestinian land to create one large Israeli state. On the other hand, the Two-State solution involves Israel and Palestine becoming two separate states in hopes that it would end the conflict. As previously mentioned, I had debated changing my preferred solution. This would have had me favor the One-State over the Two-State; however, I had come to realize that the One-State would have possibly provoked further conflict rather than solve
Vishakha Sonawane, a writer from International Business Times, explains, “The two-state solution calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside a Jewish nation based on borders that existed before the war in 1967” (Sonawane). This solution will improve relations between the two groups because it will allow the states to have their own land and borders to keep them separate. Bernard Chazelle describes how the two-state solution will help improve the conflict, “It would satisfy a majority of Palestinians and confer upon Israel the statehood legitimacy that it craves” (Chazelle). With this solution, Palestinians would get their own state, which will allow them to live freely. Since Israelis will also get their own state, they will feel as though the land is finally theirs. Ian Lustick, a writer for the New York Times, explains “The last three decades are littered with the carcasses of failed negotiating projects billed as the last chance for peace in Israel. All sides have been wedded to the notion that there must be two states, one Palestinian and one Israeli” ( Lustick). It is crucial for Palestine and Israel to have their own states. Having two states will allow both groups to see they are both victims in this situation. They both have had a high amount of casualties and loss. Both sides are just being stubborn and using violence when it is not needed. They should be using peace and communication to stop the conflict before it gets any worse than it already is. The two-state solution would allow both the Israelis and Palestinians to live how they want in their own
The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most long-term, pressing, and largely confounding social, political, and national quandaries of our age. Since we have been moving with surprising velocity into the vast horizons of globalization, the conflict has built up tremendous momentum and has called into question the adequacy of our current attempts at coming to a peaceful resolution that can simultaneously and successfully address both sides of the struggle. The purpose of this paper has been to understand the prospect of a two-state nation solution for Israel and Palestine. The discussion arises a retrospective view of the context behind the present analysis. We begin with a discourse that informs the reader of the historical narrative between the Jewish inhabitants of Israel and the Palestinians who also seek to live in the lands which comprise Israel. At the forefront of the discussion are some key issues such as trends in Israeli settlement expansion over time, the manner in which these settlements create political challenges towards the prospect of a two-state solution, and the fragmentation of power within Palestinian political parties which inhibit the opportunity for proper negotiations amongst the two parties. Finally, we delve into a discussion on nationalism, it’s importance in the discussion of a two-state solution, and the challenges posed when trying to formulate US Foreign Policy towards the matter.
Since the early 20th Century, Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting over the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. With the assumption that Palestine is a state to facilitate discussion, this report sketches out the most significant elements of the conflict on the three levels defined by Kenneth Waltz, and applies the Realist theory of international relations (IR) to the “Two-State” solution.
Any reference to conflict turns history into a reservoir of blame. In the presence of conflict, narratives differ and multiply to delegitimize the opponent and to justify one’s own action. Narratives shape social knowledge. The Israeli Palestinian conflict, both Jews and Muslims, view the importance of holding the territories through religious, ideological, and security lenses, based on belief that Palestine was given by divine providence and that the land belongs to either the Israelis or Palestinian’s ancestral home. Understanding these perspectives is required for understanding Palestinians’ and especially Israel’s strategy and role in entering the Oslo peace process. Despite
After more than 50 years of war, terrorism, peace negotiation and human suffering, Israel and Palestine remain as far from a peaceful settlement as ever. The entire Middle Eastern region remains a cauldron waiting to reach the boiling point, a potent mixture of religious extremism, (Jewish, Christian and Islamic), mixed with oil and munitions.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most controversial conflicts in modern history. The expansion of Israel since 1947 is seen as the beginning of the conflict, although its origins go back to the end of the 19th century, when Jewish immigration to Palestine began to increase. Since the start of the conflict, several peace negotiations have been carried out, resulting in variable degrees of success.
Bob Hawke once said; “Unless and until something concrete is done about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue you won't get a real start on the war against terrorism.” Perhaps Hawke put into a few simple words one of the most complicated issues within our world today, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As Israel continues to strip the Palestinians of their land and fears it’s very existence because of the Palestinians terrorist acts, there seems to be no solution in sight. The world appears to be split and all over the place when it comes to this matter. According to The Middle East Institute for Understanding approximately 129 countries recognize Palestine as a state while many others do not. Over all the political matters within this issue not only affect Palestine and Israel but the world as a whole, as the Middle East and the West seem to disagree. This has had and will continue to have an enormous impact on many political affairs all over the world particularly in the current fight against terrorism. Personally I feel that the Israeli Palestinian conflict while being a very complicated matter has a simple solution. Within this issue I am a firm believer that the occupation of the West Bank by Israeli forces is extremely unjust and must come to an end. Once this is achieved a two state solution will be the most effective way to bring peace to the area. The occupation of the West Bank violates political and legal rights, human rights, and illegally forces Palestinians
Furthermore Israel’s extreme control will not allow the two sate solution happen henceforth not letting peace happen because of their selfishness. On the other hand Israel has extreme control because they deserve that land. In today’s world Palestine and Israel have a constant battle because of the fact that Israel controls almost every decision when it comes to the change in the government. In fact “Israel controls more than half of the west bank and all of east Jerusalem” (Abu) confirming that Israel is not ready to give up the land that belongs to Palestine. However the majority of those who live in east Jerusalem are Jewish. For that reason “Sources such as Water are to be kept under Israeli authority” (Abu), not only controlling the life style of the Palestinians but also controlling the agricultural in
The conflict between Israel and Palestine is just one of the many facets that have shaped modern day politics in the Middle East. It is a conflict rooted in generations of violence, discrimination and prejudice that is complicated by a history older than any of the modern day superpowers. Ever since the creation of the state of Israel by the 1947 UN partition of Palestine
It seems that the Arab-Israeli conflict is not going to be resolved. The conflict took many thousands of lives. There are millions of refugees both in the Arab states, and in Israel. Both Arab and Jewish people sustain economic, physical and moral losses. These losses make the hostile parties accept inevitable truces. The forces of peoples and the international communities try to promote peace-making. For many years the problem of this conflict has been solved by the UN Security Council, the EU, and even was discussed at the Group of Eight summits. However it is not possible to find any consensus, owing to obvious unwillingness of different
The Israel-Palestine Conflict The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a part of the greater Arab-Israeli long-running conflict in the Middle East. The main point of this conflict is the existence of the state of Israel and its relations with Arab states and with the Palestinian population in the area. The idea and concept of Israel was born in the mid 19th century. Jews of Europe and America wanted a place for their homeland, where they could go and be with others of the same race and religion. Palestine was chosen because of its religious routs from The Bible as the “promised land” from God, and the motherland of Jews fled, known as the Diaspora.
Some studies on the Israel-Palestinian conflict postulate that the nature of the conflict has always been about land, meaning the partition of the holy land (e.g., Newman, 2002; Klieman, 2000; Alpher, 1995). But a tectonic shift occurred with the swift Israeli victory in the 6 day war of 1967, when Israel occupied the territories. Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories bar Gaza strip ( territorially miniscule) has morphed into a sort of colonialism as Israel has buil a number of settlements on the territories it found in control of after 1967, which practically amounts to an annexation of the land. Therefore, the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict is essentially a conflict over Israeli colonization, the only remaining settler colonialism in the world. Early Israeli political thinkers were aware of the need to have overwhelming military superiority over the Arabs, the need for an Iron wall of Jewish Bayonets to drive the Palestinians into despair. The idea was to create a situation that in any subsequent negotiations, Israel would be able to negotiate from the position of strength.