Two States for Two People?One bi-national State for all?

Can the Conflict Come to an End?

Two States for

Two People?

Herzl / The Jewish State

“Let Sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation…Palestine is our historical home….The Jews who wish for a state will have it.”

Theodor Herzl The Jewish

State (1896)

Bi-National State?

“Palestine should be neither Jewish nor Arab. It should be a bi-national state in which Jews and Arabs share full equality….the inhabitants of this country, both Arabs and Jews have not only the right but the duty to participate…in the government of their common homeland.”

Judah Magnes Testimony

(1946)Speech (1930)

David Ben-GurionIn the area allocated to the Jewish State there are 520,000 Jews and about 350,000 Arabs. Together with the Jews of Jerusalem, the total population of the Jewish State at the time of its establishment, will be about one million, including 40% non-Jews…. such a [population] does not provide a stable basis for a Jewish State. This [demographic] fact must be viewed in all its clarity and acuteness. With such a [population] composition, there cannot even be absolute certainty that control will remain in the hands of the Jewish majority .... There can be no stable and strong Jewish state so long as it has a Jewish majority of only 60% “

David Ben-Gurion (1948)

1948 Dilemma of Victory

What to do with the Abandoned Palestinian Towns and Property?

The Meron MemorandumJerusalem, 13 Elul 572718 September 1967

TOP SECRET

To: Mr Adi Yafeh, Political Secretary to the Prime MinisterFrom: Legal Counsel, Ministry of Foreign AffairsSubject: Settlement in the Administered Territories

At your and Mr Raviv’s request, I am enclosing a copy of my memorandum on the above subject, which I submitted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Regards,Theodor Meron

Oslo Agreement (1993)Declaration of Principles

• Withdrawal from Occupied Territories (OT)

• Palestinian Self Government in OT

• Interim Palestinian Self Government / PA

• Permanent Status Negotiations

The Israeli PositionTwo States for Two People

• 1. Two states, two homelands: just as Israel is homeland to the Jewish people, so Palestine will be established as the homeland and the national answer for the Palestinian people, including the refugees.

• 2. Two states living side by side in peace and security: just as a viable and prosperous Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza is an Israeli interest, so a secure Israel must be a Palestinian interest. The world cannot afford another terror state.

The Palestinian (PA) PositionTwo States for Two People

“Palestine is the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is now and forever.”

Mahmoud Abbas

March, 2013

Edward Said“The conflict appears intractable because it is a contest over the same land by two peoples who always believed they had valid title to it …[the] Oslo [peace process] set the stage for separation, but real peace can come only with a binational Israeli-Palestinian state.”

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/10/magazine/the-one-state-solution.html

Tony Judt – “The Alternative”The two-state solution—the core of the Oslo process—is probably already doomed.… To convert Israel from a Jewish state to a binational one would not be easy, though not quite as impossible as it sounds: the process has already begun de facto…. In a world where nations and peoples increasingly intermingle and intermarry…Israel is truly an anachronism. And not just an anachronism but a dysfunctional one.

Meron Benvenisti

“The geopolitical condition created in 1967 is irreversible. The situation can not be changed… You can not unscramble that egg.”

Daniella WeissFormer Mayor of Israeli Settlement of Qedemim

“Settlements prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state…I say that the settlers are immovable…We will continue to build settlements even if they are demolished.”

The Pattern of SettlementAriel / Marda

Ma’ale Adumim: Private Palestinian Land?

ISRAELI SETTLEMENT POPULATION

1972 1977 1986 1991 2011-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WB 800 4323 55,690 95,165 328,423

EJ 6900 30,300 103,900 137,400 198,629*GZA 700 740 2150 3900 0

Total 8400 38,323 161,740 236,465 527,052

* Figure for 2010http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/comprehensive-settlement-population-1972-2006

The Problem of Jerusalem

“Salami Sandwich”Where is the Palestinian State?