One State Solution?

Jonathan Cook is an on-site credible reporter and he has written a very interesting piece on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a summary.

Ghassan Khatib, a former cabinet minister in the Palestinian Authority (PA), “Neither the armed resistance of Hamas nor the diplomacy of Fatah has made any gains,” explained in an Al Jazeera article. “They are failed governments, and the public is deeply dissatisfied.” ...events are also likely to underscore how much ground they have lost to Israel – and how the pressure for new thinking is coming from the ground up, not from the leadership. “But there are strong vested interests that will try to maintain the current situation,” he said, pointing to the Palestinians’ dependence on foreign donors, Israel’s control over the transfer of income to the PA, and in turn the vast number of families relying on PA salaries. “Neither Fatah nor Hamas are in a position to advance popular struggle. They are bureaucratic governments, with structures, leaders and ideologies that militate against non-violence as a tactic.”

Diana Buttu, a former legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) “It is significant that there has been a steady increase in support for one state among the Palestinian public, now at around 30 per cent,” Buttu said. “That is surprising, given that today not one Palestinian party, in the West Bank and Gaza or the 48 areas [of Israel], publicly supports it...Gradually Hamas has adopted the two-state formula, plus, in its case, a long-term truce with Israel...What happens in occupied East Jerusalem could prove decisive. Israe was extremely concerned about large numbers of Palestinians there seeking Israeli citizenship and voting in city elections. If a majority starts applying for citizenship that could prove to be a deadly blow to a two-state solution, and it could happen very rapidly. That might be the point at which other Palestinians were driven into mass protests for equal rights in a single state, along the lines of a civil rights or anti-apartheid struggle.

Ahmed Al-Naouq, a youth activist in Gaza, pointed out that the focus of the protests was the demand that the refugees – a large majority of Gaza’s population – be allowed to return to the lands, now in Israel, they were expelled from in 1948.

“In Gaza we are more creative and flexible in our thinking because we have no other choice. We want to break out of this prison,” he pointed out. “My father worked for many years inside Israel. We are ready to live alongside Israeli Jews in peace – they need to set aside their fears.”