Is two-state solution still best hope?

LIKE other observers and academics, I used to think the two-state solution was the most effective means for IsraelPalestine peace. That plan is dead now. Why has the two-state plan collapsed? First, since the Six-Day War of June 1967, Israel’s occupation and control of Palestinian land has become entrenched.

More than half a million Jewish settlers dominate the fertile land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Second, after decades of human rights organisations warning Israel’s control of Palestinian life might lead to apartheid, the “threshold” has been crossed, a Human Rights Watch report found.

One of the more startling findings is that even the Palestinians living in Israel are subjected to a form of apartheid. The report asserts that nearly seven million Palestinians in the occupied territories and Israel itself face persecution.

Third, Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally and illegally gift the remaining bit of historical Palestine to Benjamin Netanyahu not only destroyed the framework of a two-state solution but has made the one-state solution, or a bi-national state with citizenship and equal rights for both communities, the only option. Yes, international law favours two states, and most Israelis oppose one state and demand a Jewish state.

Not only that but the main Palestinian parties, Fatah and Hamas, oppose a one-state solution. But they have more to gain than to lose in a one-state plan.

The international community, including the UK, should support a bi-national or a federal (Israel-Palestine) democratic state with equal rights for all citizens. As long as the US supports Israel unconditionally, it has no incentive to change.