In response to the Israel-Gaza war and the ongoing tension between the Israelis and Palestinians, the proposal of a two-state solution is again on the table as a viable way of bringing peace to the region. Is this idea reality or fantasy?
Some historical background assists in answering this question. First, what is the two-state solution? As far back as 1937, Britain suggested splitting what was left of British Mandate Palestine into an Arab state in the south and a Jewish state in the north, with Jerusalem as an international zone. Britain saw this plan as an expression of its commitment to the Jewish people as voiced in the 1917 Balfour Declaration, as well as a solution to the uncontrolled violence in the region.
The Arabs (they did not call themselves Palestinians until 1967–68) rejected the proposal; and Britain realized that it demanded the forced relocation of large populations, which was not viable.
Carving Up the Territory
After World War II, the newly formed United Nations on November 29, 1947, passed Resolution 181 to partition British Mandate Palestine into two entities: one Arab, one Jewish. The Jewish leaders welcomed the UN plan; the Arab leaders rejected it. On May 14, 1948, the 30-year-old British Mandate expired. The British left the region; and Israel declared statehood, leading to the War of Independence as Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Transjordan (now Jordan) all attacked the fledgling Jewish state.
All these countries had been part of the 400-year-old Ottoman Empire, which was defeated in World War I. After that war, the League of Nations, the UN’s precursor, gave the British a mandate to govern three former Ottoman provinces plus Palestine, a 45,560-square-mile (118,000 sq. km) piece of land that extended well beyond the Jordan River. It gave France a mandate to govern what are now Syria and Lebanon. Syria and Lebanon eventually secured their independence.
From the three Ottoman provinces, the British created Iraq. What remained was Palestine, the territory the League of Nations had designated for a Jewish national homeland. However, the British gave 77 percent of that land to the Arabs in 1922 to create Transjordan. Wrote Middle East expert Elwood McQuaid, “That left the Jews with a mere 23 percent—10,478 square miles, of which 4,500 square miles were desert.”
Israel won its independence in 1948 and established borders slightly beyond those in the UN Partition Plan. In 1967, Israel fought another major defensive war and, against all odds, won again. As a result, it gained control of the enormous, oil-rich Sinai Peninsula, which it gave back to Egypt in exchange for peace; Judea and Samaria (the West Bank); the Golan Heights; and Gaza. Israel also reunified Jerusalem, which the Jordanians divided after they seized the Old City in 1948 and expelled the Jewish people, who had lived there for centuries.
Since 1967, the Arabs have been searching for a way to reclaim lost ground, which has become the focus of the so-called two-state solution, as they demand Israel return to the pre-1967 borders.
In 1993, the Arabs and Israelis negotiated the first round of the Oslo Accords. While many matters remained unresolved, it seemed progress was being made to create another Arab state alongside Israel as a pathway to peace. However, an Israeli assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995 because of the Oslo Accords, dramatically halting the peace process.
In July 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton hosted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David in hopes of obtaining a peace settlement. Barak offered, among other things, 92% of the West Bank; 100% of the Gaza Strip; a Palestinian capital in eastern Jerusalem; and sovereignty over half of the Old City. Arafat refused, enraging President Clinton. Two months later, Arab violence intensified when the Second Intifada erupted, prompting many observers to claim Arafat never wanted peace; he wanted all of Israel.
In 2002, Arab states proposed their own plan called The Arab Peace Initiative, which included recognition of Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state. (The Arabs have consistently refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist.) But Hamas massacred 30 civilians and injured 140 during the Jewish holiday of Passover, scuttling attempts at peace.
U.S. President Barack Obama tried to restart the peace process in 2008 but insisted Israel return to the pre-1967 borders, which Israel could not do for security and other reasons.
Roadblocks and Other Obstacles
For decades, all attempts at obtaining a two-state solution have met significant roadblocks. A major obstacle is the Arabs’ steadfast refusal to recognize Israel. Iran, the mastermind behind many terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, adamantly rejects the Jewish state’s legitimacy. This impassible barrier has existed since 1948.
Fueling the problem is the second insurmountable barrier to a two-state solution: the Arabs’ intense hatred of the Jewish people. The Israelis’ nearest neighbors would utterly destroy them if at all possible.
Hamas, Gaza’s governing authority, categorically states its agenda as the destruction of Israel. Other terrorist groups in the region share Hamas’s goal. Hatred of the Jewish people is imbedded in the Palestinian culture, which propagates and glorifies Jewish genocide.
This attitude applies also to the Arabs governed by Fatah, led by Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (PA). As the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said, “You cannot negotiate peace with somebody who has come to kill you.”
Many other complexities also hinder a two-state solution. The Arabs demand all descendants of former refugees be allowed to return to Israel proper. There are issues involving the Temple Mount, Jewish rights in eastern Jerusalem and the Old City, security arrangements in strategic areas, continuing settlement of Jewish and Arab populations, access to holy sites, and so much more.
Furthermore, who would govern a newly formed Palestinian state? Hamas certainly cannot be trusted after it savagely butchered more than 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, and kidnapped hundreds more. Neither a residual Hamas nor the PA are suitable candidates, and it is highly unlikely a foreign authority would be acceptable to either side.
Despite this reality, on June 10, 2024, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution S/2024/448, which expressed an unwavering commitment to a two-state solution unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority. This plan mimics President Obama’s solution some years earlier. In response, on July 17, 2024, Israel’s Knesset rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, as the proposed governing authority would never be acceptable to Israel.
The Lord has His own solution: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever” (Ezek. 37:21–22, 25).
The two-state solution will not work. But in the end, the Lord has a one-state solution that will work forever.
