PALESTINIANS WANT ONE-STATE SOLUTION

The dream of a separate Palestinian state at peace with the Jewish state of Israel is being rethought, by none other than the Palestinians. The Jews, however, are not so enthusiastic. Read the entire article here.

Arabs are increasingly against an Arab and Israeli state and prefer a single country, according to a recent article in the Al Ajeera Arab news service.

“The alternative for Arabs seems to be a unified state with equal rights for everyone, and that itself of course would put an end to the main obstacle to peace—Zionism itself, Arab academic Ghada Karmi told the news service.

The article quotes David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as saying that the “one-state solution is totally unrealistic because it would effectively mean the end of Israel.”

Arafat is also on record saying that ”the womb of the Arab woman is my best weapon.” Some Israelis point to this as proof that he has never been committed to the idea of two states.

Some Palestinian intellectuals and Israelis on the far left actually espouse a one-state solution, arguing it is preferable to separation. With the two peoples merged into a single entity, they contend, many of the vexing problems that now make the conflict seemingly insoluble would melt away. There would be no reason to argue over delineation of borders, or over control of Jerusalem, and it would not even be necessary to remove settlements.

This is not Ali Jerbawi's preferred route to statehood and to solving the conflict. Since Israelis would not agree to a single state, he says. It would mean an ”apartheid-like struggle” in which Palestinians substitute their demand for national self-determination with a demand for one-person-one-vote in a single state. ”This type of struggle will take many years,” he says. ”We want to end Palestinian suffering.”

But in the absence of Israeli agreement to the creation of a viable Palestinian state -- in Gaza and almost all of the West Bank -- he is prepared to go the one- state route. ”If that happens, then we will say to the Israelis, 'We will meet you in 10 to 15 years time with the demand for one-person-one vote in a single state'.”