Apr 8, 2018

A representative of the Israeli Civil Administration recently presented the Knesset with demography statistics that indicate there are more Palestinians than Jews (by a very small margin) between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea. The numbers presented March 26 stipulate that 6.8 million Palestinians and 6.5 million Israelis live on these lands. Now that these numbers were recognized by Israel, the option of a so-called one-state solution is gaining momentum in the Palestinian Authority (PA).

A senior PLO official, close to President Mahmoud Abbas, told Al-Monitor that for the foreseeable future, the two-state solution is off the table for several reasons. The first is that under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel is piloted by the settler movement. And even after the Netanyahu-era, the settlers (half a million voters) will be part of the governing majority. In addition, the Palestinians consider the US administration’s eventual peace proposal an insult, as it would offer the Palestinians independent cantons at best.

The PLO source admitted with some anger that the pragmatic Arab front is today in a weaker position to demand Palestinian statehood from the United States in return for their anti-terror and anti-Iran positions. The United States knows that the pragmatic Arab countries are committed to these positions anyway, specifically Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Another reason behind the despair over the two-state solution is that the European Union is currently weaker and more isolated regarding a regional peace process. Russia, on the other hand, has never been interested in taking the lead on a Palestinian state.

Viewing these reasons, the source, together with other veteran PLO seniors, concluded that the Palestinian leadership must espouse a proactive strategy of one state for two peoples. Of course, it should not be an apartheid state, but a state with equal rights, socially and politically, for all Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.