Relative Humanity: The Fundamental Obstacle to a One-State Solution in Historic Palestine (1/2)

1. Introduction From the scandalous Nusseibeh-Ayalon agreement to the irreparably flawed Geneva Accords, the last true Zionists -- with the crucial help of acquiescent Palestinian officials -- have tried their best to resuscitate the two-state solution with the declared intention of saving Zionism. But it is arguably too little, too late. The two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is really dead. Good riddance! But someone has to issue an official death certificate before the rotting corpse is given a proper burial and we can all move on and explore the more just, moral and therefore enduring alternative for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Mandate Palestine: the one-state solution. Blinded by the arrogance of power and the ephemeral comfort of impunity, Israel, against its strategic Zionist interests, failed to control its insatiable appetite for expansion, and went ahead with devouring the very last bit of land that was supposed to form the material foundation for an independent Palestinian state. The current phase has all the emblematic properties of what may be considered the final chapter of the Zionist project. We are witnessing the rapid demise of Zionism, and nothing can be done to save it, for Zionism is intent on killing itself. I, for one, support euthanasia. Going back to the two-state solution, besides having passed its expiry date, it was never a moral solution to start with. In the best-case scenario, if UN resolution 242 were meticulously implemented, it would have addressed most of the legitimate rights of less than a third of the Palestinian people over less than a fifth of their ancestral land. More than two thirds of the Palestinians, refugees plus the Palestinian citizens of Israel, have been dubiously and shortsightedly expunged out of the definition of the Palestinians. Such exclusion can only guarantee the perpetuation of conflict.

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Cry, our beloved country
By Gideon Levy

Perhaps, after all, the world will save Israel from itself. Perhaps Israel's real friends will increase the pressure on the government. Perhaps they will understand that, even in Israel, external pressure is not always bad, because it may be the last chance to bring Israel back on the straight and narrow and make it a more just state. The last attempt is modest, at present, but bodes well. The UN, an institution not highly thought of in Israel, resolved to bring the separation fence to the International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ), another institution sneered at in this country. This has already aroused surprising nervousness in Jerusalem's government corridors. Where the outcry of the Palestinians and the protest of the extreme left failed, the UN succeeded. This is not bad news. Suddenly Jerusalem officials discovered the wrongs the fence was causing. After most of its construction was completed, incarcerating thousands of families in compounds without anyone caring, a feeling of discomfort arose in Jerusalem. Yosef Lapid even warned of turning Israel into South Africa in the eyes of the world. Good morning, justice minister, but your warning is too late. South Africa has been here for a long time already, and this is how most states of the world see it. Still, better late than never, only it's a pity the justice minister needed The Hague threat to understand that the fence his government built is an apartheid fence.

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Analysis / Making threats, cultivating an image
By Danny Rubinstein

Two prominent Palestinians, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) and Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, gave expression last night to the prevalent mood that the frozen peace process has created among the Palestinian public. Qureia's words in favor of establishing a single binational state echo statements that have recently been made in the Palestinian media by political activists and academics. Many Palestinians have come to understand that for Israel, the threat of a binational state is the greatest threat of all.

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The settlers' only chance

Among the Jewish majority in Israel, agreement is emerging not to allow the settlement project in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip to lead Israel into the binational situation. The implication of such a scenario in the fairly near future is, of course, the loss of the Jewish majority. All the surveys show that a clear majority (even a "Jewish majority," for those who insist on one) today supports the evacuation of most of the settlements as part of a peace agreement. A large proportion of the public is even ready to accept their unilateral evacuation. Therefore, those who would like this settlement project to continue - the settlers themselves and their supporters - are left with only one course of action: to shape a solution that will differentiate between the cessation of Israeli rule in the areas of Yesha (Judea-Samaria-Gaza) and the continued existence of the settlements there. To put it simply: to make possible the existence of Jewish settlements in an area that will be under Palestinian rule.

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To Achieve Two States, Ask for One

With Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatening to impose unilaterally the permanent status solution of his choice if the Palestinians do not bow to his wishes within the next few months, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei has now responded with a quiet threat of his own which is far more likely than either continued violence or continued immobility to produce the sensible two-state solution which clear majorities of both Israelis and Palestinians wish to achieve.

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  thanks to Undernews