The only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a new state solution — a completely new nation with a different or heavily modified Israeli constitution, founding principles, and policies.
The new state could be called Israeltine or PalIsrael or something completely different. But the current situation will never work.
Current situation:
Since the creation of Israel in 1948, resulting in the displacement and subjugation of the Palestinians, there has been a continuous cycle of bloodshed culminating in the current war between Israel and Hamas.
Current estimates are that over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed since the October 7 attack by Hamas. The final death toll will be much higher since no one knows how many people are buried under the rubble of what was once Gaza.
The October 7 Hamas attacks were an atrocity. But the Israeli response has been disproportionate and barbaric. The Israeli response will only lead to the creation of more militant groups.
The cycle of violence will continue because millions of Palestinians live without freedom of movement, fundamental civil rights, and few property rights.
Only 20% of Gazans had regular access to clean drinking water before the current war. The unemployment rate in Gaza for young people was over 50%. Israel entirely controls access to Gaza on three sides and Egypt on the southern side. This blockade has been going on for over 50 years!
In the West Bank, the Israeli government continually builds new settlements, displacing Palestinians from homes they've lived in for generations. There are even roads built between settlements that Palestinians cannot drive on.
As the U.N. has declared in many reports, today's Israel is an apartheid state, and Gaza is the largest open-air prison in the world.
The status quo cannot work in the long term.
The Two-State Solution:
The Two-state solution is dead. It can be debated whether it was ever alive or just a red herring of hope used to continue the apartheid regime.
The Israelis say the Palestinians didn't accept offer good faith offers in the past. Some of that is true.
The Palestinians say the Israelis broke promises on their agreements. Some of that is true as well.
But no amount of historical finger-pointing can change today's reality - a war without end and a constant cycle of violence.
Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Pursuing a two-state solution is insanity.
The River to the Sea:
The phrase, 'the river to sea,' has come under attack as being antisemitic. I'm not sure why.
The Israelis interpret this phrase to mean that the Palestinians want the elimination of the Jewish population in Israel.
But it doesn't mean that to the Palestinians or any unbiased observer. It's simply a call for equality with the Jewish population.
Just like civil rights movements in the U.S. by minorities or the LGBTQ+ community are not a call for the genocide of white people or hetero people. Civil rights movements are a call for equality with the ruling majority.
The phrase, 'the river to the sea,' calls for equality. Nothing more.
And, ironically, isn't it the Israelis who are trying to kill all the Palestinians from the river to the sea? Israel is bombing Gaza into dust. Israel is arming settlers to kill Palestinians in the West Bank with Impunity. So, who is really advocating genocide from the river to the sea?
A New State Solution:
The reality is that there are about equal numbers of Jews and Palestinians in the areas that Israel controls, from the river to the sea. One group cannot hope to expel or kill everyone in the other group. Neither population is going anywhere.
The only solution that will work over the long term is a new state solution - a complete re-engineering of the current Israeli laws and policies that creates one nation for both Jewish people and Palestinians living in equality.
One nation with liberty and justice for all. (Sound familiar?)
Don't believe me? This is what Jewish NY Times columnist Peter Beinart wrote in his column, "I No Longer Believe in a Jewish State"
"The process of achieving equality would be long and difficult and would most likely meet resistance from both Palestinian and Jewish hard-liners. But it's not fanciful. The goal of equality is now more realistic than the goal of separation. The reason is that changing the status quo requires a vision powerful enough to create a mass movement. A fragmented Palestinian state under Israeli control does not offer that vision. Equality can. Increasingly, one equal state is not only the preference of young Palestinians. It is the preference of young Americans, too."
He's right. It's not going to happen tomorrow. Maybe not for a decade. Israel is a mighty country with one of the world's largest militaries, nuclear weapons, and unlimited support from the U.S. military-industrial-congressional complex. The current Israeli government will not change or give up power easily.
But it will never happen if we don't post the idea on the internet and push it into the collective consciousness.
The time to talk about a one-state, new-state solution from the river to the sea, with liberty and justice for all - is now!