The Palestinians - the leadership and the people - must bid farewell forever to the two-state solution to end the Palestinian issue, and to act internally and externally;
To divert the path towards one state, according to a common national vision, that fulfills the hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people, and puts an end to the brutal suffering to which it has been subjected for nearly 100 years, which we have presented the most prominent aspects of its bitter political, military, economic, social and psychological harvest in the previous two articles.
All the events and developments in the Palestinian cause in the last two decades in particular, confirm beyond a reasonable doubt that the Palestinians' continued adoption of the two-state solution makes them walk alone in an endless arid desert, and the time has come to correct the course before they find themselves outside Geography and history together.
I mentioned at the end of the previous article that we will address in this article (opportunities and challenges);
But I found that it is imperative that we first provide a historical overview about this solution, and clarify the general concept of it, in order to establish a deeper understanding on which a broad movement can be based that is capable of changing the current political path, which moves the Palestinian issue from the two-state solution to the one-state solution.
All the events and developments in the Palestinian cause in the last two decades in particular, confirm beyond a reasonable doubt that the Palestinians' continued adoption of the two-state solution makes them walk alone in an endless barren desert, and the time has come to correct this path before they find themselves outside Geography and history together.
The One-State Solution: A Historical Background
It is very striking that the one-state solution project has been widely covered in the media this year, in a way that has not happened in previous years, and this may be due to the high rate of frustration with the two-state solution, and the increase in conviction of its failure and its inability to live more than that.
In my opinion, this phenomenon is a positive indicator in favor of supporting the one-state option, and it needs more development and organization.
The one-state solution was not the result of recent years, but rather it goes back to before the declaration of the state of the Zionist entity, and in the following are the most prominent milestones that this solution went through officially at the Palestinian and Arab level, and in civil terms at the level of institutions, initiatives, events and thinkers:
First: On the official level
1944: The Palestinian Communist Party calls for a democratic state on the land of historic Palestine for the Arab and Jewish peoples.
1947: The United Nations committee, which recommended partition in 1947, submits a side report proposing the establishment of a bi-national federal state.
1967 (after the setback of June 1967): The Popular and Democratic Fronts for the Liberation of Palestine announce the adoption of a one-state solution to the Palestinian issue.
1968: Fatah declares its strategic goal of establishing a democratic Palestinian state in all of Palestine.
1969: The Palestinian National Council approves the adoption of a one-state solution to the Palestinian issue.
1974: The Palestinian National Council, in its 12th session held in Cairo, announces its ten-point program, which includes (the establishment of the independent national fighting people authority over every part of the liberated Palestinian land), while preserving the one-state solution.
1988: The Palestinian National Council, in its 19th session held in Algeria, abandons the one-state solution and adopts the two-state solution.
2004: Former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Al-Alaa) threatens the Zionist entity to adopt the one-state solution if the Palestinian people do not obtain their rights in the two-state solution.
The National Democratic Rally Party: One of the parties representing the 48 Palestinians in the "Israeli Knesset", defending the one-state solution for more than 20 years
2000: The only Arab call for this solution came from President Muammar Gaddafi, who adopted the one-state solution, in what is known as the White Paper, calling for the establishment of a single democratic state in Palestine in the name of (Isratine) for the Arab and Jewish peoples.
The United States, and behind it the Zionist movement and the major Western countries, stood firmly with the two-state solution, and its total rejection of the one-state solution, which has become prohibited for the Palestinian leadership and its crews to demand or hint at it.
As for the Arabs, the general position was consistent with that of the United States in adopting the two-state solution. The Arab League even refused to include Muammar Gaddafi's initiative on the agenda of the emergency summit in 2000, despite it being presented by a member state.
Early talk about the details of the "one-state solution" at the current stage is a waste of opportunities, early raising of expected problems, setting of obstacles in front of the vehicle, and preventing them from moving forward. Going into determining the details will take place in the initiatives and agreements in which the parties to the conflict and the relevant committees participate. After it is convinced that there is no escape in front of it to proceed with this solution, and this is not an easy matter, and it will take many years of persistent political work that will pass through many stages and difficulties, and needs many understandings, mechanisms, policies and resources, to reach the final stage.
Second: At the civilian level
In the past two decades, many Palestinian initiatives and events have been active at home and abroad, calling for a one-state solution.
But it did not receive sufficient media coverage, and Palestinians from the West Bank, the occupied territories in 1948 and the Gaza Strip participated in it, and the most prominent of which are:
The future vision of Arabs in Palestine, prepared by the National Committee of Heads of Local Arab Authorities in (Israel) in 2006.
The 2006 Democratic Constitution, prepared by the Adalah Center (the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel), puts forth a proposed scenario for a single binational state constitution.
Haifa Declaration 2007 prepared by the Arab Center for Applied Social Research in Haifa.
The 2007 Madrid and London Declaration of the One State in Historic Palestine, which was adopted at a meeting held in Madrid in July 2007, and a conference in London in November of the same year, with the participation of a large number of activists.
The Munich Declaration for the Establishment of a One Democratic State on the Historic Land of Palestine, issued by a workshop held in Munich, Germany, in June 2012, in which 35 Palestinian and Jewish activists participated in it.
The Bethlehem Committee held its first conference in Bethlehem in September 2012 in support of the Munich Declaration.
The Ramallah Committee held its first conference in Ramallah in September 2012 in support of the Munich Declaration.
The Popular Movement for a Democratic State on the Land of Historic Palestine, which is registered as a Swiss association formed in May 2013, and includes members from Palestinians inside and outside Palestine.
Jaffa for One Democratic State, was also formed in May 2013 and is registered in Britain.
One democratic state in Palestine, and was formed in England in June 2013.
One-state institution, registered in the Netherlands in 2016.
Hundreds of conferences, seminars and workshops accompanied this, as well as hundreds of studies, research and articles supporting the one-state solution.
However, this great movement at the civil level remained confined to its elitist framework, and did not turn into a broad media and academic movement, active in the Palestinian street and its various institutions at home and abroad, due to the preoccupation of the Palestinian leadership, Palestinian parties and Palestinian resistance factions with the deteriorating daily realities of the complexities of the two-state solution and its political and military consequences. The study of the Carnegie Middle East Center issued in February 2019 entitled "Two states or one state? A second look at the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma."
A wide range of Palestinian, Arab, Jewish and foreign personalities were involved in this solution, among them: Dr.
Edward Said, and Dr.
Azmi Bishara, and Dr.
Muhammad Abu Sitta, Awad Abdel Fattah, Ghada Al-Karmi, Gideon Levy, Ofer Naiman, and Dr.
Abdel-Wahab Al-Messiri and Angelique Ejabi, and despite the fact that the general trend that dominates the supporters of this solution is of the left and liberal orientation, many thinkers affiliated with each of the "Fatah" movement and its partners in the authority, "Hamas" and the factions of the Islamic trend, They are reconciled with this proposal in principle, even if they do not have a significant presence in its activities and events;
Because of the political commitment of the "Fatah" movement with the Zionist entity in the Oslo Accords, which the Palestinian Authority adheres alone, and because of the inherent legal problems raised around it, its impact on the literature of "Hamas" and the intellectual and organizational Islamic movement and its political commitments to its bases.
The concept of a "one-state solution": which country are we talking about?
The discussion about the one-state solution was characterized by ambiguity, multiple perceptions, and different intellectual and ideological principles, without going into any procedural details for implementing this solution on the ground. Nevertheless, all the theses that were adopted agree that the general premise is to establish a unified state on the land of historical Palestine. It includes the Palestinian and Jewish people, "and talking about a one-state solution is a talk about a new path to which the political process must move to solve the Palestinian issue, as an alternative to the current situation based on the two-state solution, in which all decisions, agreements, understandings and initiatives have failed to provide it with the reasons for success." Despite the full support of the international community, led by the United States of America.
Talking early about the details of the "one-state solution" at the current stage is a waste of opportunities, an early provocation of expected problems, a situation of obstacles in front of the vehicle, and preventing them from moving forward. Going into specifying details will be the place of initiatives and agreements in which the parties to the conflict and the relevant committees participate. After it is convinced that there is no escape in front of it to proceed with this solution, and this is not an easy matter, and it will take many years of persistent political work, which will pass through many stages and difficulties, and needs many understandings, mechanisms, policies and resources, to reach the final stage.
Consequently, being absorbed in setting definitions or defining descriptions of this state, such as: democracy, secularism, or bi-nationalism, and whether its name will be the State of Israel, the State of Palestine, the State of Isratine, or anything else .. All of these definitions and designations are premature. The important thing at this stage is to expand the circles of dealing with this solution in all directions and at various levels, and by all available means, internally and externally, in order to convince the parties to the political process, including Palestinians, Jews and the United States, that they must change the course of the political solution to the Palestinian issue from a two-state solution to a solution. One country.