Limited options for deal to please all

Now that the two-state solution appears to be all but defunct, what other options are there for Israel and Palestine? And how viable are they?

One state: A single, democratic state, not defined as specifically Jewish or Arab. For years, this was the goal of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and it remains the preferred option for many Palestinians. This would mean Palestinians in the occupied territories having full rights and the end of the Zionist dream of a Jewish state. If the Palestinians formally drop the two-state strategy and demand incorporation into Israel it will put Israel in the awkward position of either refusing to annex territories where it has been settling Jews for decades, or annexing the areas but not granting Palestinians there Israeli citizenship, leading to an uproar among liberal Israelis. Down this path lie coercion efforts in the form of international sanctions on Israel or Palestinian violence. Interim agreement: The Palestinians get most of the West Bank as their state, with access to Old Jerusalem, but they give up demands for a “right to return” for millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants around the world. Israel might well go for this but Palestinians have ruled it out, fearing the temporary arrangement could become permanent.

Jordanian option: Jordan took over the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1948-1949 Arab-Israel war, lost them to Israel in 1967 and then gave up all claim to them in the 1980s. But most of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian descent and some Israelis believe Palestinian aspirations could be satisfied by givingpart of the West Bank back to Jordan. However, this overrides the Hashemite kingdom’s Bedouin foundations, while the Palestinians have rejected this idea as well. Partial unilateral pullout: This would involve settlers pulling out of some areas to make partition a more realistic prospect. A military force – not necessarily Israeli – would stay on, pending some future arrangement. Status quo: Leaving things as they are – except that Israel keeps changing the landscape by adding settlements. The most likely outcome of this scenario is increased violence.