@Box Ox 2 state solution:
"By now, the Palestinians who are left in the regions that Israel’s integrating and planning to take over are divided into … about 160 or so small enclaves surrounded by Israeli forces, which may or may not allow Palestinians to tend their crops, tend their livestock and pick their olives and so on, basically imprisoned.
And the idea is to try to see if we can just get rid of them somehow, get them to leave intolerable conditions. Meanwhile, recently, just a couple of days ago, the far-right nationalist religious government, extended the right of Israeli settlement to the northwestern West Bank, what Israel calls Western Samaria … [seeking to] integrate into Israel whatever is valued of Israel within the occupied territories. Jerusalem’s now maybe five times whatever it was historically, taking in surrounding villages to ensure a Jewish majority. There’s mechanisms, not formally just, slowly, step by step … just below the radar. By now, young Israelis don’t even know that there is a green line.
AD
If you want to talk about long-term outcomes, you can’t just talk about one state and two state. You have to talk about what’s happening, ‘Greater Israel’. I understand the reasoning of the one-state advocates, but I think … it’s almost inconceivable that Israel will ever agree to destroy itself and become a Jewish minority population in a Palestinian-dominated state, which is what the demography indicates. And there’s no international support for it. Nothing. So my own personal feeling is the real options are ‘Greater Israel’, or move towards some kind of two-state arrangement. It’s often claimed that that’s now impossible because of the enormous settlement project. Maybe, maybe not. I think if the United States insists, decides to join the rest of the world in supporting some kind of two-state settlement, not just rhetorically, but in practice, Israel will be faced with a very serious decision.
You have to look back and see what the Israeli policy has been in the last 50 years. Go back to the 1970s … when the basic decisions were made. In the 1970s, the UN Security Council was debating a resolution calling for the establishment of two states, on the international border, maybe some small modifications, but two-state settlement in which there’s a guarantee of the right of each state to live in peace and security within secure and recognised borders.
Israel was passionately opposed. Yitzhak Rabin, the UN delegate, angrily denounced it. Israel refused even to attend the sessions. It was supported by Egypt, Jordan, Syria,
the so-called ‘confrontation states’. There’s a long international record, votes in the General Assembly for similar resolutions, votes like 150 to 3, United States, Israel and US-dependent states. Israel decided in the 1970s,
it made a fateful decision to choose expansion over security. Well, that meant that Israel was dependent for its security and support by the United States. That’s the bargain. If you choose expansion over security, you depend on a powerful state. If the US changes its policy, Israel has difficult choices to make."
The renowned US academic spoke to Al Jazeera about his career and positions he regrets not taking in the past.
www.aljazeera.com
www.ajc.org
