Two State Solution
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 11 Septembber 2025 that "there will be no Palestinian state." Netanyahu made the remarks during a visit to the Maale Adumim settlement in the occupied West Bank. He formally signed an agreement that will see thousands of new homes built nearby as part of controversial plans to expand West Bank settlements. "We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us," Netanyahu said. "We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security," the Israeli prime minister added during the event, which was livestreamed by his office.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 26 September 2025 said his country "must finish the job" against Hamas in Gaza in a defiant speech at the UN General Assembly. Netanyahu denied that a genocide was under way in the Palestinian territory, days after UN investigators accused Israel of committing just that. Netanyahu sharply denounced Western countries for embracing Palestinian statehood. "This week, the leaders of France, Britain, Australia, Canada and other countries unconditionally recognized a Palestinian state," he says. “They did so after the horrors committed by Hamas on October 7 – horrors praised on that day by nearly 90% of the Palestinian population." He added: "Israel will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats."
Israel’s establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory constitutes a war crime. The International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute classifies an occupying power’s direct or indirect transfer “of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” as a war crime.
The two-state solution remains the world’s mantra, to the amusement of most Israelis, who have long since tossed it out, finding no need to replace it with anything at all. About 600,000 Israelis now live as settlers in the territories occupied in the 1967 war. More than 400,000 of them in the West Bank / Judea and Samaria and about 200,000 in East Jerusalem.
Israeli forces have “systematically destroyed” civil life across Gaza since October 2023, while demonstrating a “clear intent” to forcibly remove Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, effectively preventing any possibility of a future Palestinian state, according to a new UN report released on the opening day of the annual General Assembly meeting. In the report released on 23 September 2025, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory outlined Israel’s plans to destroy life in Gaza and expand its illegal settlements in the occupied territory, saying Israel is demolishing civilian infrastructure, repeatedly forcibly transferring Palestinians across the enclave and razing basic infrastructure.
Ambassador Richard Haas had long advocated for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and he has spoken about it on multiple occasions. Following the October 7, 2023, attacks, he emphasized that pursuing a two-state solution is a strategic necessity for Israel's long-term security and that a vacuum of hope only emboldens extremist groups. Haas views a two-state solution not as a favor to Palestinians but as a necessity for Israel's own security and long-term well-being. He argues that when there is no viable path forward or "hope" for Palestinians, extremist elements like Hamas are able to gain traction. A political process that offers a path to peace is the only way to counter this. In the wake of the 07 October 2023 attacks, Haas reiterated his long-held belief that the two-state solution is the "only real political solution" for the conflict, despite the immense difficulties.
Trump does not believe in the two-state solution , and by weakening Iran's allies in the region, he will find it easier to achieve the system that he and Israel desire. He believed that Netanyahu would likely exploit this opportunity to weaken Hamas. Israel’s parliament passed a resolution 18 July 2024 that overwhelmingly rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state. The resolution passed in the Knesset with 68 votes in favor and just nine against. It said that a Palestinian state would pose “an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition with far-right parties co-sponsored the resolution. Opposition leader Yair Lapid’s centre-left party left the session to avoid supporting the statement,
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, responded 19 July 2024 regarding the recent vote by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state: “I am deeply saddened by the Knesset’s vote to deny a path toward Palestinian statehood. When the U.S. voted in support of the 1948 UN resolution to establish two states for two peoples in the region, we recognized Israel immediately. But we tragically delayed recognition of Palestine until such time as Israel agreed via negotiation to accept its existence. Since Israel has made plain that it will not accept Palestinian autonomy, the U.S. should no longer condition recognition on Israeli assent, but instead upon Palestinian willingness to peacefully coexist with its neighbors.”
The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 19 July 2024 declared that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory “is unlawful”, and that “all States are under an obligation not to recognize” the decades-long occupation. The Court was responding to a request for an advisory opinion by the General Assembly on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. Israel is also “under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the opinion continued, as well as “reparation for the damage caused to all natural or legal persons concerned”.
Public opinion in Israel on the Palestinian issue is extremely complex. At one time msny Israelis believed in a two-state solution, to preserve Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. In the Institute for National Security Studies survey conducted in 2012, 59 percent of the Jewish public supported the establishment of a Palestinian state, and 69 percent supported a solution of “two states for two peoples.” Public support for a two-state solution has decreased in recent years. In December 2022, support for a two-state solution was 33% among Palestinians, 34% among Israeli Jews, and 60% among Israeli Arabs.
As of January 2023, a Joint Poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah and the International Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Tel Aviv University found that support for a two-state solution among Palestinians and Israelis declined to just one-third on each side, along with growing opposition to the detailed items of a permanent peace agreement for implementing a twostate solution. Slightly more Israeli Jews support one unequal state under Israeli rule than the two-state solution; but both publics still prefer two states to any other democratic framework for resolving the conflict. Pairs of reciprocal incentives can raise support somewhat on both sides, showing some flexibility particularly among the Israelis. But trust is declining to new low points, and a majority of Palestinians reject four proposed confidence building measures while a majority of Israelis accepts half of them.
The problem was security. Unlike the Olso process, a peace agreement would not replace security, but security arrangements would ensure peace. Israel's security requirements would need to be addressed from the beginning of the process since Israel had no response time or strategic depth. Israel's coastal strip includes seventy percent of Israel's population and eighty percent of its GDP, and a Palestinian state would be immediately adjacent. In order to compensate for this increased risk, a Palestinian state would have to be completely demilitarized, with Israel in control of Palestine's air space and land borders. There would need to be special security arrangements to protect Jerusalem and Ben Gurion Airport. Israel would also retain security control of the Jordan Valley, while maintaining early warning and intelligence gathering sites on the tops of the West Bank hills. The land link between the West Bank and Gaza would have to be under Israeli control as well.
On 5 January 2024, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, outlined proposals for the future governance of Gaza once the war was over.[45] The so-called ‘four corner’ or ‘four pillar’ plan would provide for the following:
- Israel will maintain security control over the territory, including the right to re-enter any parts of Gaza it has withdrawn from
- a multinational, US-sanctioned force ‘will run the territory’s day-to-day bureaucracy and facilitate its rehabilitation’
- Egypt and Israel will monitor and control Gaza’s southern border crossing
- Gaza’s existing non-Hamas-affiliated Palestinian infrastructure and civilian bureaucracy will remain in place
Writing for the Royal United Services Institute, Rob Geist Pinfold contends that Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to resist pressure from the Biden administration to commit to a solution on Gaza’s future and also keep his coalition allies onside: "Gallant’s outing of this long-simmering internal conflict has realised Netanyahu’s greatest fear. Netanyahu has repeatedly resisted the significant and growing pressure from the Biden administration to publish a post-war plan precisely because he knows that doing so would only harm his own overarching objective which extends above and beyond any of Israel’s war aims: maintaining his hold on power as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister....
"Backing Gallant’s plan would doom Netanyahu’s coalition by alienating the far-right allies on whom he is reliant for his political survival. But endorsing their vision for a post-war Gaza would precipitate a public spat with the Biden administration. This is exactly why the US has pressured Netanyahu to make his stance clear. Its support for Israel’s war is conditional, and it will not back a post-war vision that ends in expulsions, annexations or occupations. Losing this lifeline of superpower support would at best curtail the Israel Defence Forces’ operational freedom, and at worst force Israel to withdraw from Gaza before meeting its objectives."
United States President Joe Biden’s Middle East policy “will be to support a mutually agreed, two-state solution, in which Israel lives in peace and security, alongside a viable Palestinian state”, acting US Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills told the UN Security Council 26 January 2021. “The President’s view continues to be that a two-state solution is the only path forward,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki added. Mills said the Biden administration intends to restore Palestinian aid and take steps to reopen diplomatic missions closed by the Trump administration and will continue to urge other countries to normalise ties with Israel.
In 2023 a policy paper issued by the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence ["The ideal solution is to evacuate the residents of Gaza to Sinai"] indicated that replacing Palestinians from Gaza towards Sinai is the ideal option for the occupation. The Israeli paper confirms that although the displacement process faces a number of challenges at the political, military and social levels, it remains the best option for Israel in the long term, as the occupation believes that the Palestinian Authority model, although “tolerable”, is an option that has not completely succeeded, as the experience of “ “Maintaining security” in the West Bank, and the model of abandoning the occupation and leaving the lands, as happened in Gaza, did not succeed either, which leaves the option of displacement as a last and preferred option for the Israeli side, and it is an option that faces obstacles on three main levels.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) will resume coordination with Israel that it suspended in May in response to an Israeli plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, a senior Palestinian official said 17 November 2020. Hussein al-Sheikh, the PA’s civil affairs minister and close aide to President Mahmoud Abbas, said that “the relationship with Israel will return to how it was” following “official written and oral letters we received” confirming Israel’s commitment to past agreements.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a historic peace deal on 13 August 2020 that will lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern nations in an agreement that U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker. While the deal halted Israeli annexation plans, the Palestinians have repeatedly urged Arab governments not to normalise relations with Israel until a peace agreement establishing an independent Palestinian state is reached. By dropping the annexation plan Netanyahu may be hedging his bets ahead of a possible change in the White House. The UAE’s Foreign Minister Abdullah al Nahyan has condemned the planned annexation, calling it “illegal” and contradictory to attempts to find a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Former defense minister Naftali Bennett decried the abrupt decision as “tragic” and blamed the Prime Minister, “It is unfortunate that Netanyahu missed a once-in-a-century opportunity to apply Israeli sovereignty,” he said. Settler leaders claimed to have been “betrayed” by the suspension of annexation announced as part of the Abraham Accords with the UAE. Texas Megapastor Robert Jeffres, who is a leading voice on Trump’s faith advisory council, told the New York Times already on June 22nd, that most Evangelicals were “indifferent” to annexation.
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, made clear that he would oppose any moves by Israel to unilaterally redraw the Mideast map and annex lands sought by the Palestinians. Abandoning its annexation plan changes little on the ground. Israel already holds overall control of the West Bank and continues to expand its settlements there, while granting the Palestinians autonomy in a series of disconnected enclaves. Some 500,000 Israelis now live in the rapidly expanding West Bank settlements.
With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing by his side, Donald Trump on 28 January 2020 unveiled his long-delayed Middle East plan, claiming that it would lay the foundations for a "realistic two-state solution" in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian leaders had rejected the plan even before its release and were absent during its unveiling. Following the announcement at the White House, Palestinians denounced the proposal as utterly biased in favour of Israel and insisted that "Jerusalem is not for sale". Trump called his plan an "historic opportunity" for Palestinians to achieve an independent state of their own by doubling the territory currently under their control. But under the proposal, the United States said Jerusalem would remain the "undivided capital" of Israel and it would recognise Israeli sovereignty over parts of the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians want both occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank to be part of a future state.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's (MBS) effort to secure the Saudi throne led him to back US President Donald Trump's Middle East plan and liquidate the Palestinian cause altogether.
Before announcing the much-touted plan, the Trump administration had broken from international consensus by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The administration had also halted aid to the Palestinians, and said it no longer considered the settlements a breach of international law. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and the plan's principal architect, shrugged off the Palestinian rejection. "We're not going to chase the Palestinians ... the Palestinian leadership, you can't really treat them like they're a serious government, or capable or competent dealmakers," he told reporters. "They'll do what they've always done, which is screw everything up."
According to the plan, Israel would annex "the vast majority" of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank which would be connected to the rest of Israel with their own access roads and a transportation system. Ninety-seven percent of Israelis living in the West Bank would be incorporated into Israeli territory. The Jordan Valley would also be under Israeli sovereignty, giving Israel a permanent eastern border along the Jordan River. The Gaza Strip would be connected to the West Bank with a high-speed transportation link, crossing over or under Israel.
The so-called "Triangle Communities" consisting of 10 Palestinian towns in Israel: Kafr Qara, Ar'ara, Baha al-Gharbiyye, Umm al Fahm, Qalansawe, Tayibe, Kafr Qasim, Tira, Kafr Bara and Jaljulia could possibly be transferred to the State of Palestine. As many as 257,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel could find themselves outside the borders of Israel.
Jerusalem would be the capital of Israel and "Al Quds (or another name selected by the State of Palestine)" should be internationally recognised for the State of Palestine, according to Trump's plan. The separation barrier would serve as a border between the two capitals. The Palestinian state would not include any part of Jerusalem inside the current separation barrier which includes the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque located in the Old City and areas where most East Jerusalemites live. The capital of Palestine will be in East Jerusalem, located in areas which Israel previously cut off with its separation barrier including Kafr Aqab, the eastern part of Shuafat and Abu Dis.
The plan calls for the demilitarisation of all of Palestine and the disarmament of Palestinian factions in Gaza such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Israel would control security at all international crossings into Palestine. It would also continue to carry out surveillance of Palestinians within their own territory. Israel would rely on blimps, drones and similar aerial equipment "to reduce the Israeli security footprint" within the State of Palestine.
There would be no right of return of any Palestinian refugees or their descendants into Israel. According to the plan: "Their Arab brothers have the moral responsibility to integrate them into their countries as the Jews were integrated into the State of Israel." Upon the signing of an agreement as proposed under Trump's Middle East plan, Palestinian refugee status would cease to exist and the United Nations's agency for Palestinian refugees would be terminated.
As of 2019, there were some 600,000 to 750,000 illegal settlers living in about 150 settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Nearly 400,000 Jewish settlers were living in the West Bank along with 2.8 million Palestinians. Another 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, an area claimed by Palestinians. The government of Israel stopped building any official new settlements in 1992, according to Israeli monitoring group Peace Now. That, however, did not stop the construction of unauthorized settlements in the West Bank. According to UN Human Rights Office, more than 100 unauthorized Jewish outposts with thousands of housing units have been erected in existing settlements in the last 25 years without the formal approval of the Israeli authorities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 05 April 2019 that he would annex illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins another term in office. "You are asking whether we are moving on to the next stage - the answer is yes, we will move to the next stage. I am going to extend [Israeli] sovereignty and I don't distinguish between settlement blocs and the isolated settlements."
UN Ambassador Danny Danon said 20 November 2019 “Judea and Samaria are inseparable parts of the Jewish people’s homeland. This is not a recent development or claim, but a historical truth that will never again be denied... The Jordanian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement of April 1949 explicitly states that the demarcation line was established for military purposes only, and I quote from the agreement: ‘without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundaries,’” he said. “That was signed in 1949 between us and the Jordanians. Adding such a precondition is an attempt to decide the outcome of the negotiations before they have started.”
Donald Trump said 15 February 2017 that a peace deal between Israel and Palestine can be a one-state or two-state solution as long as both sides agree on it. "The United States will encourage a peace and really a great peace deal," Trump said during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington Trump also said that Washington was working to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. "I would like to see that happen. We are looking at it very very strongly. We are looking at it with great care. Let’s see what happens."
Since the 1990 Madrid conference, the peace process had been built on the principle of "land for peace", where Israel withdraws from Arab land it occupied in 1967 in exchange for peace and the normalisation of relations with the Palestinians and Arabs. This was also the core of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative proposed by Saudi Arabia. Regardless of its shortcomings, the 1993 Oslo Accords provided a political vision for Peres's plan - a two-state solution - which was followed by the 1994 Paris Protocol which established rules regulating economic relations between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Jared Kushner's 'deal of the century' replaced this principle with his idea of "peace to prosperity", which effectively reduces the conflict to an economic problem that can be resolved by improving the living standard of the Palestinians. The absence of a proposed solution for major political issues, particularly Palestinian statehood, the status of Jerusalem, and the right of return, rendered his proposal nothing more than an attempt to bribe the Palestinians into giving up self-determination.
The Palestinian Authority has no control over borders, infrastructure, ports and airports, land, water and other resources. It does not even have full control over its own budget. As of 2019 public servants were not getting paid in full because the occupying power, Israel, had decided to take a portion of the funds allocated for salaries. The development and prosperity that Kushner is promising can only happen if the Israeli occupation is lifted.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on 16 February 2017 the United States still supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “First of all, the two-state solution is what we support. Anybody that wants to say the United States does not support the two-state solution - that would be an error,” Haley told reporters at the United Nations. “We absolutely support the two-state solution but we are thinking out of the box as well: which is what does it take to bring these two sides to the table; what do we need to have them agree on.”
A senior White House official said 15 February 2017 that peace between Israel and the Palestinians does not have to be through a two-state solution, and that it is up to the two parties to decide. The official said the United States will not "dictate what the terms of peace will be.... A two-state solution that doesn't bring peace is not a goal that anybody wants to achieve," the official said. "Peace is the goal, whether it comes in the form of a two-state solution if that's what the parties want or something else if that's what the parties want. We're going to help them." The U.S. official spoke to reporters on the eve of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington. Trump has given his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the task of negotiating a peace deal.
Netanyahu had spoken of a "state minus," suggesting he could offer the Palestinians deep-seated autonomy and the trappings of statehood without full sovereignty. The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with the capital in East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that there was "no alternative" to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, after a White House official said peace did not necessarily have to entail Palestinian statehood. "There is no alternative solution for the situation between the Palestinians and Israelis, other than the solution of establishing two states and we should do all that can be done to maintain this," Guterres said during a visit to Cairo.
The head of a German parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, Norbert Röttgen, was quoted by "Die Welt" newspaper as saying "the two-state solution is the only way Israel can remain a democratic and a Jewish state at the same time." Shimon Stein, a former Israeli ambassador to Germany, told the Bayerischer Rundfunk public broadcaster that abandoning the two-state solution was "unrealistic" and "a lot of blood would be shed" before both sides finally end up returning to the two-state solution.
"If the Trump Administration rejects this policy it would be destroying the chances for peace and undermining American interests, standing and credibility abroad," Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said in response to the US official's remarks. "Accommodating the most extreme and irresponsible elements in Israel and in the White House is no way to make responsible foreign policy," she said in a statement.
President-elect Trump signaled the last gasp of the two-state solution through his choice of ambassador to Israel. Donald Trump announced 16 December 2016 he would nominate David Friedman, his long-time friend, bankruptcy lawyer (used often) and campaign adviser on Jewish world issues, as US ambassador to Israel. Friedman is noted for his affinity with extremist Israeli settlers. J Street - the dovish lobbying organization that has been critical of some Israeli policies, charged that : "the nomination shows breathtaking disdain for the vast majority of American Jews who support the two-state solution, progress toward peace with the Palestinians and common decency in public discourse."
Friedman contributed several opeds to The Jerusalem Post, on 20 October 2016 writing: " ... president Trump will trust Israel to seek peace as best it can, and will not attempt to impose a “two state solution,” or any other “solution,” against the wishes of the democratically elected Israeli government."
Senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway emphasized that moving the embassy to Jerusalem had been a "big priority" for Trump. In the event of a two-state solution, Palestinian authorities have made clear that they want East Jerusalem to serve as the capital of their own separate state. Trump's decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem is therefore almost certain to provoke objections from the Arab world and Muslims further afield.
On 06 February 2017, the Israeli Knesset also passed a law that retroactively legalises the seizure of private Palestinian land on which settlements have already been established. The law prevents Palestinian landowners from laying claim to their land if Israeli settlers are living on it, despite the fact that the settlers' presence in occupied territory is illegal under international law. It has been estimated that the law will retroactively legalise 53 settlements and outposts - allowing for the expropriation of about 8,000 dunams (80 hectares) of private Palestinian land [roughly equivalent to Manhattan below Central Park].
On 14 February 2017 Israeli President Reuven Rivlin supported the application of Israeli sovereignty over major settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank, and granting Israeli citizenship for Palestinians living near the settlement blocs. Rivlin is known as a staunch supporter of Jewish colonies. The Israeli president has never concealed his opposition to an independent Palestinian state. Although he is known as a hardline politician, Rivlin’s political stand is different from that of Likud led by Netanyahu, the party known for its rightist extremist agenda. Rivlin has said that “Israel is defined as a Jewish state, but we should not forget that it is defined at the same time as a democracy. I call on the Jews and my Arab brothers also to avoid incitement”.
Rivlin spoke more than once of his support to a confederation of two states, Israeli and Palestinian, with open borders, united Jerusalem with a joint administration of its holy sites and two sovereign democratic powers. He said it was an initiative for “two states-one homeland” that proposes a confederation. By supporting colonies to remain where they are, the initiative provides an answer to the practical and ethical difficulty of evacuating the colonists. Sovereignty would be declared over all the territory under Israeli civilian and military control in the West Bank, known as Area C.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely [MK, Likud] encouraged more settlers to head to the West Bank during an event supporting West Bank settlements in Washington 28 March 2017. “We need to go to a million settlers in Judea and Samaria – with a US embassy in Jerusalem. We need to think of new ways of thinking that will include Judea and Samaria under Israeli sovereignty forever," she said. She went on to say that the notion of Israel occupying the West Bank is a "myth." “I always say that the occupation is a myth, because we never occupied other people’s land. This is Jewish land [Judea and Samaria]. This should forever be a Jewish land under Israeli law," she said, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post.
“I think that now, 50 years after the Six Day War, it’s about time for us to say in a very clear way: Half a million Jews live in a Jewish land. We’re not occupiers in our own land. And this is why we have the natural right to build in Judea and Samaria. The most important thing is for the American administration to understand the needs of those communities, where after eight years of having no ability to plan new buildings, I think it’s about time for us to say: We need this like air to breathe,” continued Hotovely.
Since January 2017 the Israeli government, emboldened by Donald Trump's inauguration, has authorised the construction of more than 6,219 illegal settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, including 719 in East Jerusalem.
On 30 March 2017 Israel's government approved the building of the first new settlement in 20 years in the occupied West Bank - a move swiftly condemned as an obstacle to peace based on a two-state solution. The move - illegal under international law - was adopted less than a week after the United Nations criticised Israel for not taking any steps to halt settlement building on occupied Palestinian territory, as demanded by Security Council in Resolution 2334 passed in December 2016, adopted with 14 votes after the United States abstained in the vote. The unanimous vote in favor of construction of the new settlement in an area called Emek Shilo was announced in an Israeli government statement.
On 03 May 2019, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner indicated that the US would be pulling back from its long-standing support of the two-state solution. "If you say 'two-state', it means one thing to the Israelis, it means one thing to the Palestinians," he told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "We said, you know, let's just not say it. Let's just say, let's work on the details of what this means".
Kushner voiced his opinion that Palestinians deserve "self-determination" but are not yet capable of governing themselves. Asked whether he believed the Palestinians were capable of governing themselves without Israeli interference, on 03 June 2019 Kushner said: "That's one that we'll have to see. The hope is that they, over time, will become capable of governing". The Palestinians, he said, "need to have a fair judicial system ... freedom of press, freedom of expression, tolerance for all religions" before the Palestinian areas can become "investable".
Trump officials have hinted that their approach will not mention the creation of an independent Palestinian state, a goal of US diplomacy for decades. When the economic part of the United States's Middle East peace plan was released 22 June 2019, many noticed that the 40-page plan was void of any political context with the words "occupation", "freedom", "equality", "blockade" missing.
Kushner avoided saying explicitly whether the plan would include a two-state solution, the bedrock of US policy for decades. "I do think they should have self-determination. I'm going to leave the details until we come out with the actual plan," Kushner said.
A United Nations report in 2016 found that the economy of the occupied Palestinian territories might reach twice its size if the illegal Israeli military occupation was lifted. "Occupation imposes a heavy cost," the report read, citing Israeli "restrictions on the movement of people and goods; systematic erosion and destruction of the productive base; losses of land, water and other natural resources", as some of the impediments disrupting the territories' growth.
In the early 1990s, Israel gained some international legitimacy that it had not previously achieved, after the Madrid Conference in 1991 and the Oslo Accords in 1993, where there was a large group of countries that linked their recognition of the occupying state to their reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority, meaning that it was an integral part of The legitimacy of the occupying state stems from the existence and establishment of a Palestinian state, or promises to do so at the very least. Thus, when Israel thinks about the displacement project that works to liquidate and end the Palestinian state project, it is risking the extent of its international legitimacy, and this challenge increases depending on the method it will follow in pushing the Palestinians to leave their lands.
At the same time, any large-scale displacement process requires large and extended political and media campaigns to convince world public opinion of it, and that it is the only remaining solution to “stabilize the region,” according to Israeli claims, and it is the process that the occupation leaders hope will lead to the building of a unified Jewish state. Over the entire Palestinian land. In general, this seems to be a difficult offer to promote, especially from right-wing governments whose trends are seen as stemming from extremist religious tendencies rather than “rational” political tendencies, which makes the process of the occupying state’s communication with the world difficult.
The second obstacle is of a regional nature, and is related to the positions of neighboring countries regarding the Israeli plan. The countries of the region have faced Palestinian migration several times, and in certain periods they bet on the possibility of overturning the balance of power and conflict through confrontation, and in other periods on peace agreements that might lead to some settlement for the return of refugees or at least the establishment of a Palestinian state with its population, which is what It has proven to be a failure over the past decades. On the contrary, Israel has continued to send messages stating that it is continuing to expand, control and annex lands.
This reality prompted the Arab countries surrounding Palestine, led by Jordan and Egypt, to take positions that appeared firm in their political and media form regarding the displacement of Palestinians, as this would represent, from their point of view, an official death certificate for the Palestinian state project, which would generate major changes in the region, and open the door to a question. There is embarrassment regarding the borders at which the expansion of a state governed by a right-wing authority that believes in a map of the State of Israel that extends beyond the borders of all of Palestine stops.
Therefore, the displacement of Palestinians from these countries represents a complex political, social and economic issue, which puts it in a difficult challenge to its capabilities and to its societies. For Amman, the displacement of the people of Gaza is a sign of a similar plan with the population of the West Bank, which is more numerous and borders Jordan. In this context, it is worth saying that after the Palestinians took refuge in 1948 and 1967, Jordan received more than one wave of immigration that had a profound impact on the demographic composition of the country, most notably the wave of immigration of returnees from the Gulf as a result of the Second Gulf War, then the migration of Iraqis and Syrians resulting from the repercussions of the Arab Spring, which is what Amman is facing an economic, social and political challenge. Even if the world works to solve the economic problem resulting from the refugee crisis through certain settlements, no one will be able to solve the social crisis resulting from permanent displacement.
As for Egypt, the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza towards it may not constitute a social crisis primarily due to the fact that its population is approximately 10 times the population of Jordan, which means the possibility of a lesser impact on the social structure, but it means a security challenge primarily, and an economic challenge secondarily. The displacement of the population of Gaza, the main stronghold of the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation, which includes armed resistance factions whose numbers are estimated at tens of thousands, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of social incubators of this resistance, means that the strongholds of this resistance will subsequently move to Egypt, specifically the Sinai Peninsula, which leaves Cairo facing... There are two options, both of which are bitter from its point of view: either to intervene itself to suppress any possible Palestinian resistance from its territories, or to risk turning its eastern borders into a burning arena for conflict with Israel, which would open the door to a wider war.
In addition to this is the crisis that the legitimacy of these regimes will face before their people if they allow the liquidation of the Palestinian issue, especially since the role that is required of these countries is not only to receive immigrants, but to work to engineer the immigration process and prevent the crystallization of new resistance, which is a role that makes these countries - if accepted - An effective partner in the displacement process. As a result, many countries in the region expressed clear positions opposing this step, and the Jordanian and Egyptian positions were the most clear, as they implicitly considered any attempt at displacement as a declaration of war against them, which puts the occupation in front of a real challenge with its surroundings, which are supposed to receive refugees.
Land and settlement expert Khalil Al-Tafakji revealed 25 February 2024 that the areas of influence of Israeli settlements exceed 60% of the area of the West Bank , even though the built-up area there does not exceed 1.6% of its area. The Al-Maqdisi expert added, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that efforts are being made to seize empty areas within what are known as settlement and pastoral outposts , in anticipation of any talk about political solutions.
Israeli media announced on 24 February 2024 that the occupation authorities intend to establish 3,300 settlement units in their settlements in the West Bank, including about 2,350 in the Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem. This comes at a time when the “Jewish Population Statistics in the West Bank” website, which supports settlement, revealed that the number of settlers rose by 3% to reach 517,407 as of last December 31.
While the Palestinian governmental Wall and Settlement Authority documented 2,410 attacks carried out by settlers in the West Bank, which led to the martyrdom of 22 Palestinians during 2023, and the displacement of 25 Bedouin communities, all after the outbreak of war on October 7, in addition to the establishment of 18 settlement outposts, 8 of which after the war.
Al-Tufakji says that there is no disagreement between the Israeli parties regarding supporting and continuing settlement, ruling out the establishment of a Palestinian state in light of the current situation. Khalil Al-Tafakji: Talk about a Palestinian state and what is being proposed now in Europe and America are all empty talk (Al-Jazeera)
Based on the latest announced plans, are we facing an escalation in settlement projects in conjunction with the ongoing aggression against Gaza since October 7th? The answer is no, there is no change in the settlement pattern, which does not stop in the first place. Rather, the current Israeli government takes advantage of the various opportunities and events in order to implement all the projects that already exist.
In other words, approvals for these projects exist and were completed during 2023, but within the program of the current Israeli government, the necessary legal procedures, approvals and approvals for them are being accelerated.
Sometimes the political level stops or postpones some projects as a result of international pressure, but what we are witnessing today is an acceleration in the construction process, not only in the West Bank, but in the city of Jerusalem as well, especially with the increasing media talk about the issue of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital . The Israeli side is starting to In accelerating these processes until a fait accompli is imposed, and so that a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital is not established.
If we compare the settlement data under the most extremist government in Israel and dominated by settlers, with previous governments, are there any differences in the size of the settlements?
There is no difference between the Israeli left and right on the issue of settlement, and in Jerusalem specifically, the one that laid the foundation stone for settlement and developed the plan of Yigal Allon (an Israeli politician) in 1967 is the Israeli left, specifically the Labor Party. Therefore, the Israeli left and right agree on one strategic program regarding settlement, but the difference is that the left acts silently and does not speak, while the right speaks publicly and acts.
The "Allon" project is an official plan of the Labor Party, and is based on establishing settlement projects in the Jordan Valley and the eastern slopes of the West Bank highlands, most of which are empty. During the year 2023, approximately 13,000 settlement units were announced, going through 3 stages: announcing the settlement plan, approving the plans, and inviting bids, and this is usually undertaken by the Israeli Ministry of Housing.
What about the areas excised from the West Bank for settlement?
The actual built-up areas of settlements occupy about 1.6% of the area of the West Bank, while the announced structural plans for those settlements constitute about 6% of the area of the West Bank, equivalent to an area of 2,967 square kilometers out of the area of historical Palestine, which amounts to about 27 thousand square kilometers.
As for the areas of influence of the settlements, they amount to about 60%, that is, the total area of Area classified as “C” and under full Israeli control, according to the Oslo Accords , which also divided the West Bank into Areas “A,” which constitutes about 18% and was subject to full Palestinian control before its reoccupation in 2022. Area B is under Israeli and Palestinian civil security control.
In the last two years, what are known as pastoral settlement outposts have spread, and some settlers have turned into sheep herders who spread out on mountaintops and chase Palestinian shepherds. What is their impact and role?
The goal of the pastoral outposts in practice is to control lands that are within the Israeli program but are not exploited, for fear that any political process will lead to their return to the Palestinians. They began to establish these pastoral outposts to dominate the largest area of ??land with the smallest population.
Pastoral outposts spread in several areas, but they were concentrated in the Jordan Valley area in the north of the West Bank and Masafer Yatta in the south, thus controlling the land by imposing a fait accompli. When the number of settlers in the West Bank was 110,000, they were unable to do anything. Today, their number has exceeded half a million, in addition to about 230,000 in Jerusalem. Therefore, increasing their number means increasing their attacks on Palestinian villages and attacks on Palestinians.
In the last two years, it has been observed that the West Bank has turned into a workshop in terms of infrastructure and streets implemented by the occupation. To what extent does it serve the Palestinians?
These infrastructure works, especially the streets, come within Military Order No. 50 of 1983, which stipulates the establishment of a network of longitudinal and transverse roads, primarily serving the settlements, and cutting off the West Bank, both longitudinally and transversely. The plan also aims to gain security control over Palestinian communities, surround them with streets and bridges, limit their urban expansion and thus dominate more lands.
We move to the city of Jerusalem, what remains of it for the Palestinians?
The situation of Jerusalem is different, and it is not possible to talk about areas of influence of the settlements. Rather, 87% of the city’s area is now subject to direct Israeli control and policies. The remaining percentage, which is 13%, the occupation continues to invade by spreading settlement outposts there, meaning that they dominate 87% and seek to share the remaining percentage with the Palestinians.
Where will the Palestinian state be within the two-state solution that the Palestinians demand?
I believe that it is not possible to establish a Palestinian state with geographical contiguity within the current situation and settlement expansion, and so far there is no map for that state and no clear borders for it, and whether it will be established in accordance with Security Council Resolution No. 242, 338, or 181.
Talking about a Palestinian state and what is being proposed now in Europe and America are all empty talk. Whoever wants to establish a state must define its borders, areas of sovereignty, and a timetable for its establishment. In contrast, what we hear from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is that there is no Palestinian state, but only one state, which is Israel between the sea. The Mediterranean and the Jordan River.
Are there any nearby settlement projects, other than the units announced on Friday?
What is new is what was announced last week, which is inviting tenders to establish gas stations in a large number of settlements. The exact purpose of this is not known, but it may fall under the provision of providing the needs of each settlement individually to be independent in its services.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
