Why a Two State Solution Will Never Work

A lot of talk over the years has been about a two state solution bringing peace to the Middle East, but in reality a two state solution will never come to pass.

For starters, Israel and Palestine will never agree on who gets what and where the borders will be. Add to that, Israel also has disputes with a growing population of over 300,000 Negev Bedouins (Negev Arabs) and a dwindling population of Palestinian Bedouins. Unlike the Palestinians, Israel granted full citizenship to the Negev Bedouins who live in various locations throughout the Negev Desert of Southeast Israel. A population of 3 00,000 is large enough to influence elections should the Negev Arabs feel the need and the Negev Bedouins were there first.

“The Bedouin people are the indigenous inhabitants of the Negev desert, arriving in waves from the Arabian Peninsula over the last hundreds and thousands of years.”

— Dr. Yeela Raanan, Ph.D. in Anthropology

The Negev Arabs retain traditions and customs which pre-date Israel, and many serve in the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) as elite trackers who patrol Israel’s borders. On October 7th, “at least 21 Bedouins were killed, and six taken hostage by Hamas.” Their earliest written history dates back over 7,000 years whereas Judaism is thought to be just over 3,000 years old.

Any 2 state solution would without a doubt infringe on property owned by Negev Arabs and create more hostilities. Not to mention elections.

Then there’s the Jewish population itself. Besides being widely divided, the Times of Israel reports that Jews only make up 47% of the population.

“Jewish people make up less than 47 percent of all those living west of the Jordan River, an Israeli demographer warned Tuesday, claiming that most of the Israeli population is unaware of the democratic peril the country is sliding into by possibly becoming a ruling minority in the area.”

Also,

“Soffer also noted that Israel is the most crowded country in the Western world, citing a Central Bureau of Statistics prediction that by 2065 the total population will be 35 million.

“Where will we sit? Where will we stand?” he asked.”

As of 2013 there were 161,000 Arab Christians living in Israel, most of them descendants of early Christians with 75% located in “western Galilee, concentrated in the cities of Haifa and Nazareth.” In light of having a ruling minority, this means that Israel is no longer a democracy, having become a Minoritarianism, the most famous being apartheid South Africa.

Israel is also home to Druze, the Baha’i, and ancient communities of Karaites and Samaritans who have lived there as long as the anyone has lived there. All of these people must be taken into account when dividing the land. The 1947 plan to divide Israel into 2 different countries called for Palestinians to reside in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, but since that time Israelis have taken control of most of the West Bank while forcing Palestinians to leave. According to Amnesty International,

“Over the past 50 years, Israel has demolished tens of thousands of Palestinian properties and displaced large swathes of the population to build homes and infrastructure to illegally settle its own population in the occupied territories. It has also diverted Palestinian natural resources such as water and agricultural land for settlement use.”

Will the Israeli Government force the Jewish settlers to give the land back to its rightful owners to meet the conditions of the Two State Plan? According to the Jewish Policy Forum, as of 2020 there were “150,000 settlers who live outside of the zone of probable agreement and therefore would need to be evacuated and resettled within Israel’s borders.” That’s another sizeable voting block. Or would doing so bring about a war between Jews?

Then there is the problem of nations divided by a hostile neighbor. From 1955 until 1971 there were two Pakistans, East and West divided by India. Being apart with no easy means to travel between the two eventually lead to a series of bloody wars and the establishment of Bangladesh which found it had more in common with India than the area we call Pakistan today. I still remember George Harrison of Beetles fame singing about it.

How do Jews and Arabs feel about a 2 state solution? As it turns out, most Jews are against the idea. According to the Pew Research Center,

“Only 35% of Israelis think “a way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully,” according to the survey, which was conducted in March and April, prior to the latest violence in the West Bank. That represents a decline of 9 percentage points since 2017 and 15 points since 2013.”

Without a doubt many of those surveyed are pointing their fingers at the other side as their reason a 2 state solution can’t work, but no matter how you slice it the folks living there are not optimistic that it would ever work, and not likely to vote for a 2 state solution.

Then there is the problem of human rights. Article 13 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states,

“Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”

Palestinians don’t currently have this right and are not likely to have it with any 2 state solution as Israel simply doesn’t want them to be free to travel. As Article 14 states,

“Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

“This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.”

Name any country in the world that currently allows the Arab population of Israel political asylum along with the right to live outside of the designated refugee camps. They are few and it certainly isn’t the United States of America. While I have met Arabs from almost every country in which they are from I have never met an Arab or Muslim from Israel. As a matter of fact the United Nations relief and works agency states the following,

“Palestine refugees are defined as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.”

UNRWA services are available to all those living in its area of operations who meet this definition, who are registered with the Agency and who need assistance. The descendants of Palestine refugee males, including adopted children, are also eligible for registration. When the Agency began operations in 1950, it was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestine refugees. Today, some 5.9 million Palestine refugees are eligible for UNRWA services.”

Currently Israel is bombing many of those same refugee camps.

According to Article 17, a 2 state solution would be illegal because Arabs and Jews would lose their land.

“Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”

Will Israeli Jews be willing to move to accommodate a two state solution? Not according to The Times of Israel,

“We have children and grandchildren who dream of returning there,” said Kalfa, now an administrative official in Sa’ad, a Jewish religious kibbutz less than four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Gaza border.

“As soon as the government decides, we’re ready.”

Rabbi Yitzhak Amitai, also a former settler, stood armed and in uniform near the entrance to Sa’ad. “With God’s help” his family would soon resettle in Gaza, he said.”

And,

“We said back in 2014 (when Israeli forces last launched a major ground incursion into Gaza) that the only solution was a land incursion, complete cleansing of Hamas and reestablishment of Israeli authority” over the Palestinian territory of 2 million inhabitants, Kalfa added.”

Also,

“Recent public opinion polls suggested wide support among Israelis for a continued offensive against Hamas.

“The move toward more hawkish views on Gaza in Israeli public opinion comes less than a year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed what is considered one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s 75-year history, with pro-settlement allies.

“We return to Gaza,” read some 15 signs put up at the entrance to Jerusalem, calling for donations to a fundraising campaign for settlements.”

As The Times points out, 1.4 million residents of Gaza have been forced to move since October 7th, 2023.

Article 28 sets forth,

“Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.”

That hasn’t been the case for Palestinians for over 50 years, and I seriously question if Israeli leadership will ever allow it especially now that Israel has sold offshore drilling rights for oil and natural gas in waters belonging to Palestinians.

“Israel announced on Sunday that 12 licenses have been awarded to six companies, including British multinational oil and gas firm BP plc and Italian energy giant Eni, to explore and discover additional offshore natural gas fields.”

Finally, Article 30 makes clear,

“Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.”

As if anyone would look out for Gaza.