Making the rounds these days among some Palestinians and Israelis is a solution to the conflict different from two states. Called "Two States - One Homeland", a group led by Israeli journalist Meron Rapoport and Palestinian politician Awni Al-Mashni is advocating the creation of an Israeli-Palestinian confederation. These two states, however, would not be entirely separate. They would deal jointly with security, the economy and infrastructure. Jerusalem would serve as a shared capital. Rapoport and Al-Mashni say that their plan, now picking up public and official backing, can solve the difficult issues - Israeli settlements, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the fate of Jerusalem - that have scuttled past negotiations. It is true that the 20-year-old peace process has advanced very little and that its premise, the two-state solution, has been stymied by Israel's land grab beyond the 1967 borders by way of an apartheid wall, aggressive illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank, and efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem. However, the idea of allowing Jewish settlers to remain in the West Bank in return for letting Palestinian refugees settle in Israel will never pass. The Palestinians will never accept this exchange. How could Palestinians accept Israeli settlements when international law does not? The document also practically rescinds the right of six million Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland. UN General Assembly resolutions, meanwhile, endorse a Palestinian right of return. As for Jerusalem, the city is not recognized as part of Israel or as Israel's capital, neither by international law nor by almost any country, even the US. Moreover, most Palestinians will not accept the notion that Jews have an attachment to the land by "profound historical, religious, and cultural ties" as the blueprint stipulates, and they should not be considered unreasonable or intolerant for not doing so. There is also no reason to accept the Jewish narrative of one people for one land. In the document there is no mention of Zionists as settler colonialists or the forced displacement of the majority of the Palestinians. There is certainly no parity between the Zionists and the Palestinians. One more thing: there are over a half-million Palestinian Israeli citizens. Will they have the same rights as Israelis or will they be the national minority? If there were to be parity, then there would be two modern armies of more or less equal capacity, or at least acting in coordination. Does this mean decreasing the size and power of the Israeli Defense Force? Nobody on either side can see that happening. Proponents of one state claim that since the two-state solution is no longer practically possible (the 11-million strong Palestinian and Jewish populations in Israel and the occupied territories is a demographic reality that can't be undone), there is no way out of the conflict except a bi-national state: a home to Jews and Palestinians. The one-state solution, which though taboo in diplomatic circles, is an option many on both sides have been debating openly and secretly for many years and is slowly gaining momentum. Israel has placed the boot of military occupation on the necks of Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip for the past 48 years, all the while pretending to be engaged in bilateral negotiations to resolve the conflict. Israel is currently a government composed of prime ministers and ministers who constantly claim that no Palestinian state will ever be allowed to emerge because all the land is theirs. If so, it would be best for the Palestinians not to accept such a government or such a solution.
