2002 - Two State Solution Roadmap
President Bush's 24 June 2002 speech announced to the world that it was in agreement with Israel that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was no longer a viable negotiating partner. President Bush called for new Palestinian leadership and pledges that, "when the Palestinian people have new leaders, new institutions, and new security arrangements with their neighbors, the United States of America will support the creation of a Palestinian state whose borders and certain aspects of its sovereignty will be provisional until resolved as part of a final settlement in the Middle East."
In the months that followed, the administration presented a Roadmap delineating three phases meant to guide the parties. By 2003 the Bush Administration had large foreign policy goals for the Middle East, including Israeli-Palestinian peace, a free Iraq, the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and the establishment of a Free Trade Area. President Bush's speech of June 24, 2002 calling for Israel and a Palestinian state living as peaceful neighbors was a very important statement of American policy.
A performance-based Roadmap to a permanent Two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was presented in President Bush's speech of 24 June 2003, and welcomed by the EU, Russia and the UN in the 16 July and 17 September Quartet Ministerial statements.
The Roadmap was based largely on a 2001 report prepared by the Sharm al-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee chaired by former Senator Mitchell (commonly known as the "Mitchell Report". The Roadmap had clear phases, timelines, target dates, and benchmarks aiming at progress through reciprocal steps by the two parties in the political, security, economic, humanitarian, and institution-building fields, under the auspices of the Quartet [the United States, European Union, United Nations, and Russia]. The destination was a final and comprehensive settlement of the Israel-Palestinian conflict by 2005. The Likud-led right wing government of Ariel Sharon formally accepted the two-state solution outlined in the U.S.-adopted, and UNSC-endorsed Roadmap.
In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert 19 June 2007, Bush said their countries share "a common vision, a vision that speaks to hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people, and a vision that speaks to the security of Israel." Bush praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, calling him a "voice of moderation" and "the president of all the Palestinians." Olmert pledged to initiate a new round of regular direct talks with Abbas aimed at security issues and improving the delivery of essential services to the Palestinian people as a precursor to new progress toward the "two-state solution" long advocated by the Bush administration. "This is the ultimate goal, to create a Palestinian state," Olmert said. "We have to prepare the groundwork that will allow -- soon, I hope -- to be able to start serious negotiations about the creation of a Palestinian state."
President Barack Obama showed his commitment to a negotiated "two-state solution" just days after his January 2009 inauguration by appointing former Senator George Mitchell, who was successful as a mediator in the Northern Ireland conflict for the Clinton Administration in the 1990s, as his Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. Shortly after a Gaza ceasefire went into effect between Israel and the Islamic group Hamas in February 2009, President Barack Obama sent his Middle East envoy to the region to kick-start a process to end the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The effort will focus on the so-called "two-state solution," which would establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip coexisting peacefully alongside the Jewish state. "Lasting peace requires more than a long cease-fire, and that's why I will sustain an active commitment to seek two states living side by side in peace and security," Obama said. Obama sent his special envoy, former Senator George Mitchell, to the region for talks with Arab and Israeli leaders.
The status quo that has existed in the Middle East over the past 10 years has not served the interests of the United States or Israel, Vice President Biden told U.S. supporters of Israel on 05 May 2009. There are obligations to be met by all parties to bring peace efforts to a successful conclusion, Biden said, and those include the Palestinian Authority's fight against terror and incitement against Israel, and Israel's work toward a two-state solution with the Palestinians and an end to its building of settlements. "Israel has to work towards a two-state solution. You're not going to like my saying this, but [don't] build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts, and allow the Palestinians freedom of movement based on their first actions." Hamas, which controls Gaza, can achieve legitimacy only when it renounces violence, recognizes Israel's existence and agrees to abide by previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements, Biden said. "These are not unreasonable demands; they're basic standards of international conduct."
By 2010 many Israelis and Palestinians were questioning whether the two-state solution is still possible. Ali Abu Minnah is a Palestinian author living in Chicago. He advocates a one-state solution, in other words, a bi-national state. "The two-state solution is neither available nor stable nor just, and this is why we have opened the discussion," he said. A one-state solution is rejected by Israel because Jews would soon become a minority.
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