A one-state solution from the Israeli right:

The State of Israel should annex Judea and Samaria and grant full citizenship to all Palestinians. Demography is not a numerical predestination, it is an expression of the joie de vivre of the nation. When a nation is happy, its number of children grows, that’s why I’m not scared of demography. Whoever can’t live with Arabs is not a partner of mine.

I trust the Arab public in Israel, it has proved itself. I have no fear of a bi-national state, the solution is not B-class citizens nor high fences. It is a simple and humane solution, Palestinians must be granted full rights and should vote for the Knesset. Whoever truly wants peace, should agree to accept more Arab citizens to his state, and whoever is part of the State of Israel whose borders need to be between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea for many reasons, needs to be a citizen with full rights and obligations.

There is no question that this solution would be a more peaceful resolution if the majority of Palestinians were willing to go along with it.  This is also refreshing to hear from an Israeli nationalist who no doubt wants Israel to maintain its character as a Jewish nation.  In the past, this has meant nothing less than discrimination against Arabs and outright refusal of the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees.  Annexing both the West Bank and Gaza would create a sort of de facto Right of Return, and quite possibly create the dreaded demographic threat to Israel’s Jewish majority, which many feel is necessary to maintaining Israel’s character as a Jewish state.

The problem with this particular one-state solution, however, is that it forces millions of people to accept the sovereignty of a nation that has been oppressing them for decades.  Politically speaking, it’s not very feasible.  In order for a one-state solution to have any chance of working, in my opinion, the new bi-national state would have to be a new state built from the ground up with a bi-national identity.  Everybody will have to feel like they are on equal footing.  It can’t merely be a state for Jews that tolerates non-Jews, but a state built for everyone that lives there.  Simply annexing the West Bank and Gaza, and granting Palestinians full citizenship (whether they want it or not) would probably lead to an open revolt.  Palestinians have to feel that they are not being ruled or conquered, but being given a genuine right to self-determination in the new state.  Without accounting for this reality, a one-state solution will never work.

1. weetweetie liked this
2. wineslacker said: At the crux, besides a state created by fiat in the midst of an existing state, is the failed idea of a religious state. There is no true democracy in a state that extoles any one religion. A Jewish state can no better serve all it’s people equally than an Islamic state.
3. wineslacker liked this
4. thought-sharer reblogged this from letterstomycountry and added:

   I think that summarises it nicely. I do doubt that - after the war and the war crimes that came with it - the majority...

5. thought-sharer said: I don’t think that the Islamist tendencies in the region that consist - amidst other influences like the IS or the Emirates - of the Hamas will allow for a peaceful solution of the war that’s currently running the people ragged. They hate all jews.
6. kalazin reblogged this from letterstomycountry
7. rweroom reblogged this from letterstomycountry and added:

   “It is at least a plan.” - Churchill

8. rweroom liked this
9. letterstomycountry posted this