September 3, 2010
The Washington Post

Israel and Palestine: A True One-State Solution

by Prof. George Bisharat

"Where is the Palestinian Mandela?" pundits occasionally ask. But after these latest Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington fail -- as they inevitably will -- the more pressing question may be: "Where is the Israeli de Klerk?" Will an Israeli leader emerge with the former South African president's moral courage and foresight to dismantle a discriminatory regime and foster democracy based on equal rights?

For decades, the international community has assumed that historic Palestine must be divided between Jews and Palestinians. Yet no satisfactory division of the land has been reached. Israel has aggravated the problem by settling roughly 500,000 Jews in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, eliminating the land base for a viable Palestinian state.

A de facto one-state reality has emerged, with Israel effectively ruling virtually all of the former Palestine. Yet only Jews enjoy full rights in this functionally unitary political system. In contrast, Palestinian citizens of Israel endure more than 35 laws that explicitly privilege Jews as well as policies that deliberately marginalize them. West Bank Palestinians cannot drive on roads built for Israeli settlers, while Palestinians in Gaza watch as their children's intellectual and physical growth are stunted by an Israeli siege that has limited educational opportunities and deepened poverty to acute levels. . . .

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"A Letter from Nelson Mandela to Thomas Friedman," bintjbeil.com, March 30, 2001

[Bush's "war on terror" is a hoax that serves to cover U.S. intervention in the Middle East on behalf of "greater Israel."--Paul Craig Roberts, "What the Iraq War Is About," antiwar.com, April 23, 2008]

Rory McCarthy, "Palestinians Lose Faith in Two-State Solution," Guardian, September 4, 2008

"Gaza Situation 'Desperate'," The Wisdom Fund, January 7, 2010

Nora Barrows-Friedman, "Diana Buttu: direct talks bound to fail," The Electronic Intifada, August 30, 2010

[In Oslo, it should be recalled, Abbas, as the chief Palestinian negotiator, played Neville Chamberlain for Tel Aviv, agreeing to surrender occupied Palestinian land with a view toward putting a permanent end to Palestinian resistance and, immediately, to the first Intifada.--Jeffrey Blankfort, "Mahmoud Abbas: Double Agent," CounterPunch, August 31, 2010]

[ . . . the Strategic Foresight Group in India . . . calculates that conflict in the area over the last 20 years has cost the nations and people of the region 12 trillion U.S. dollars. . . .

"One conclusion is that individuals in most countries are half as rich as they would have been if peace had taken off in 1991.

"Incomes per head in Israel next year would be $44,241 with peace against a likely $23,304. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip they would be $2,427 instead of $1,220.

"For Iraq, income per head next year is projected at $2,375, one quarter of the $9,681 that would have been possible without the conflicts of the past two decades."--Rick Rozoff, "Middle East loses Trillions as U.S. strikes record Arms Deals," mediamonitors.net, September 3, 2010]

"Obama UN Speech on Mideast Talks 'Filled with Empty Words'--Palestinian Attorney Diana Buttu," democracynow.org, September 24, 2010

"The Settlement Freeze and the Peace Process Freeze," thejerusalemfund.org, September 28, 2010

"PLO envoy: Israel is playing politics," usatoday.com, October 13, 2010

[Brazil became the first of several South American countries in recent weeks to recognize a Palestine state along pre-1967 borders.

Since then Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador have done the same. Chile, Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua are reported to be considering recognition.--"Brazil hosts first Palestine embassy in Americas," Reuters, December 31, 2010]

[To break the logjam it will be necessary to dismantle the reigning illusion that the U.S. is an "honest broker" desperately seeking to reconcile recalcitrant adversaries, and to recognize that serious negotiations would be between the U.S.-Israel and the rest of the world.--Noam Chomsky, "Breaking the Israel-Palestine Deadlock," usatoday.com, January 3, 2011]

[A declaration signed by dozens of prominent Israeli academics, writers and artists welcoming a Palestinian state on the basis of Israel's 1967 borders was presented Thursday at the site of Israel's 1948 proclamation of independence.--Joel Greenberg, "Israeli intellectuals back Palestinian state," washingtonpost.com, April 21, 2011]

Akiva Eldar, "New Palestinian strategy document will make it difficult for U.S. to oppose UN vote," Haaretz, August 30, 2011

John Glaser, "Israel Objects to Palestinian Statehood to Avoid War Crimes Investigations," antiwar.com, September 2, 2011

Carlo Strenger, "2011: The year the two state solution died," haaretz.com, December 28, 2011

Jeff Halper, "The end of the 'two-state solution' is the beginning of a more just future," mondoweiss.net, February 19, 2012

VIDEO: "Israeli historian Professor Ilan Pappe addresses the National Press Club," abc.net.au, September 19, 2012

Kevin Barrett, "Kissinger, US intelligence community endorse 'World Without Israel'," presstv.ir, September 30, 2012

Harriet Sherwood, "Israeli poll finds majority in favour of 'apartheid' policies: Two-thirds say Palestinians should not be allowed to vote if West Bank was annexed, while three in four favour segregated roads," guardian.co.uk, October 23, 2012

Rachel Shabi, "The death of the Israel-Palestine two-state solution brings fresh hope: With many Palestinians and Israelis coming round to the idea of a bi-national state, it's possible to glimpse a peaceful future," guardian.co.uk, October 23, 2012

[NO, THE two-state solution is not dead. It cannot die, because it is the only solution there is.--Uri Avnery, "The Donkey of the Messiah," gush-shalom.org, May 11, 2013]

John Spritzler, "Uri Avnery's Specious Attack On The One State Solution," newdemocracyworld.org, May 13, 2013