Arguments have done nothing but to prolong the misery of Palestinians

THE inane and very moribund idea that a two-state solution will resolve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is continuing to seriously afflict the world.

This is graphically illustrated by the example that recently US President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had a telephone call after which the former asserted that despite his public pronouncements, Netanyahu does not oppose “all” solutions to a Palestinian state.

But what nonsense is this? If Netanyahu and his supporters are serious about not opposing a so-called state for Palestine, they must understand that such a state cannot be their vassal. That is, it should be a fully independent and sovereign state just like all modern states.

But what Netanyahu and his supporters really have in mind, as he has indicated, is that under this so-called two-state solution, “Israel will have security responsibility for all land west of the Jordan River”.

This means that this hogwash of an independent Palestine is a mirage. What is being envisaged here is a toy telephone Palestinian state whose security – and hence everything else – will for ever be controlled by Israel.

This is because those who are wedded to an idea of a separate Israeli state are so paranoid about this idea of assuring “security” for Israel which essentially means that their idea of a Palestinian state is this sham which the PLO has bought into currently, under the illusion that it has a so-called “authority”.

This argument of the various solutions to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict were rampant under apartheid, when so-called solutions were being bandied as a solution for South Africa.

They ranged from so-called Swedish cantons to the bizarre Bantustan solution, which were nothing but “solutions” to deny black people true freedom and assured that power remained in the hands of white people.

Thus the same trick is being pursued in the Middle East; if there is ever going to be a Palestinian state it is going to be a subservient entity that will still be controlled by Israel.

The world must wake up; the idea of a so-called “two-state solution” to this conflict is long dead. It is time to consider the only viable alternative which is nothing but establishing one democratic state where Palestinians and Israelis will live in peace with equal rights. Any pretence that there is any other solution is just to play into the likes of Netanyahu because such arguments have done nothing but to prolong the misery of Palestinians. DR. THABISI HOEANE | Pretoria