One-State Solution, The Way Forward In Palestine

Context: The whole premise of the two­-state solution is wrong, providing Israel with the immunity to continue its ethnic cleansing.

Evolution of idea of partitioning Palestine

• It was first offered by the British in 1937 and rejected by the Palestinians already then.
• United Nations partition plan in 1948: Insisted that Palestinians should give half of their homeland to settler movement of Zionism.
• Two-state solution 1980s: Proposed by liberal Zionists and the United States, as the best way of ending the occupation of the West Bank
• Oslo Accords, 1993: Palestine Liberation Organization accepted the two-state solution.
• Oslo II agreement of 1995: Israel partitioned West Bank (which was 20% of historical Palestine) into a Jewish and an Arab part and forced this decision on Palestine with American and Egyptian pressure.
• Bantustanisation of Gaza strip 2005: Attempts to divide Gaza strip and establish pseudo-Palestinian authority similar to the West Bank.
• Passage of Israel’s citizenship law 2018: Known as the nationality law, which discriminates against Palestinian citizens in all aspects of life on the basis of their nationality.

Understanding the aggressive stance of Israel:

• Zionist expansionism: Post 1948 partition plan, Palestinians warned that the Zionists would not be content with half of the country and intended to take as much of it as possible. This was proved right -
  • Under the guise of UN support, the new Jewish state took over nearly 80% of historic Palestine and in 1967 occupied the remaining part.
  • The current presence of more than 600,000 Jewish settlers, with a very high rate of natural growth, means that Israel will never consider moving them out;
• Ethnic and Incremental cleansing by Israel:
  • In 1948, Israel in the way demolished half of Palestine’s villages and most of its towns in nine months; an event known by the Palestinians as the Nakba, the catastrophe
  • While it was impossible to repeat ethnic cleansing after 1948, Israel went ahead with incremental cleansing, as in 1967, it expelled 300000 Palestinians.
• Imposition of military rule: Imposing military rule in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after they were occupied was another means which enslaved the people there without basic human and civil rights.
• Imposition of Apartheid: On the Palestinian minority in Israel is another method and the constant refusal to allow the 1948 refugees to return allows Israel to manipulate the demography of the region as desired.
• Forceful one-sided interpretation of peace accords: Palestinian position has no impact on the current balance of power, while Israeli interpretation remains unchallenged. Even after Oslo Accords in 1995 -
  • Area C – that is, 60% of the West bank is still ruled by Israel.
  • Area A and B – the remaining 40% is ruled by the Palestinian Authority, which optimistically calls itself the state of Palestine, but in essence, has no power whatsoever.
• Conflicting Bantustanisation: The Gaza strip was divided too, but it was retaliated with the force since the people of Gaza opted to support Hamas, not because of religious affiliation but because of the unliveable conditions made by Israel, according to the UN.

Issue with the two-state solution: The whole premise of the two­ state solution, responsible for its failure.

• It is based on the assumption of parity and of framing the conflict fought between two national movements.
  • But this is not a “con­flict” as such. This is a settler-colonial reality that began in the late 19th century and continues until today.
  • This settler-colonial movement is motivated by a logic called “the elimination of the native”. Similar to what happened in North America.
  • The two­state solution is not going to stop the ethnic cleansing; instead, talking about it provides Israel international immunity to continue it.

Way forward: Decolonise historical Palestine: Aspire for a state for all its citizens, all based on dismantlement of colonialist institutions, fair redistribution of natural resources, compensation of victims of ethnic cleansing and allowing their repatriation.