Map of the “Two-state Solution” for Israel and Palestine
Since the inception of the State of Israel in 1948, the U.S. has advocated a separate state for Palestinians within the borders of the Jewish nation. I firmly believe our government is wrong on this issue. Creating a nation of Palestine within the nation of Israel shouldn’t happen, and it won’t happen. Let’s consider the reasons for this position.
Much, if not most, of the world today is screaming, “Free Palestinians,” as their response to the Israel-Hamas war. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are protesting what they perceive as Israel’s aggression against the people our own State Department officially labels as terrorists. Some try to decouple Hamas from the rest of the Palestinians. The truth is there is no such separation. Hamas is the controlling government of the Palestinians, and Palestinians have supported Hamas’s constant attacks on Israel for decades, and they applaud the October 7 massacre and hostage taking. Those legions of Americans who have surprisingly demonstrated their antisemitic bias either don’t understand history or are being overly influenced by pockets of ultra-liberal, anti-Israel hate groups.
Meanwhile, Presiden Biden continues to tout the Two-state Solution that has been our nation’s wrongful position for years. This position proposes that the Palestinians be given the sovereign right to their own land and government within the borders of Israel. The land would be roughly that which currently defines Palestinian settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (see map above). While Israel has allowed the Palestinians to reside in those areas and more-or-less govern themselves there, the land remains under the soverign jurisdiction of the nation of Israel.
The 1948 war between Israel and the Arab nations resulted in Israel’s firm claim to all the land within its borders. Most palestinians settled in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the Arab – Israeli War of 1967, Israel captured and occupied those two Palestinian settlements. Later, in exchange for peace with the Palestinians, Israel agreed again to allow them to live peacefully within the two territories. Then, the Palestinian territories were loosely organized under the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). They have never had a legimate government, and have never been recognized as a nation by the rest of the world.
With the Palestinians relegated to their two settlement territories, Israel maintained a tolerance for the arrangement. But the Palestinians were not satisfied and would not be until they controlled all of Israel. In the mid-1990’s the Palestinian Authority superceded the PLO as a quasi government of the Palestinians. This new leadership structure maintained the stated goal of gaining control of all of Israel’s land and expelling all Jews. The terrorist group, Hamas, had been conducting periodic strikes against Israel during the establishment of both the PLO and the Palestinian Authority and challenging both organizations. Hamas eventually gained control of the Palestinians and are currently calling the shots. Their stated objective is the complete anihilation of Israel.
So, does it appear in the slightest that Israel and the Palestinians could ever agree on being separate nations within Israel’s borders? Obviously not. Under such an arrangement, Palestinians would continue firing rockets into Israel but from a closer range. Israel would lose control of miles of its international borders. Palestinians have not and will not denounce theri objective of destroying Israel. Palestinians would build up a much greater military capability with no oversight from Israel. Israel’s enemy Arab nations could deploy their military forces into a nation of Palestine. Plus, the Palestinians are on record as being adamantly opposed to the Two-state Solution.
The bottom line is that it is ludicrous to think Israel or the Palestinians would ever accept the establishment of separate soverign states within Israel’s present borders. While President Biden keeps repeating the call for a Two-state Solution, and Secretary Blinken continues running around the Middle East trying to convince the Arabs and Jews to support the Palestinians having their own state and government, just understand it is all a political game that will never be won. The only valid solution is for Israel to have sovereignty over all of its rightful land with oversight and ultimate authority over all Palestinian occupants. That is Israel’s stated expectation after Hamas is defeated, and the U.S. should support them in that strategy.
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