With full respect to our Founders, I would like to propose the following novel and uniquely workable one-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
I hold these truths to be self-evident, when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian situation:
- All people should have the right to full citizenship and political and economic opportunity.
- The other Arab states will never open their arms to the Palestinians and welcome them as full citizens, especially Jordan (even if the Palestinians make up a majority in Jordan).
- A permanent military occupation by Israel of the West Bank is both unworkable and illegal, and often leads to immoral actions by both Israelis and Palestinians. (I'm leaving Gaza aside for now; it really is a separate problem, although I would have no problem including it in this solution if conditions made that possible.)
- Israel will never give up any part of Jerusalem, given the centrality of Jerusalem in Jewish aspirations for literally thousands of years.
- A two-state solution, while laudable in concept, is unworkable in reality, given the political, security, geographic and resource issues of two independent countries trying to share a very narrow strip of land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan. (Yes, I know that was the original UN Partition Plan, but there are many more people and six decades of history since then.)
- There are hundreds of thousands of both Jews from Arab countries and Palestinian Arabs who, for whatever reason, are currently unable to return to land on which their recent ancestors lived around 1948.
- The historical need for a country where Jews from anywhere can find refuge, no matter what else is happening in the world, remains in existence. (There is no real analogous distinction that leads to irrational worldwide discrimination against Palestinian Arabs or the potential for attempted complete genocide that is akin to anti-Semitism.)
- Religious people of all faiths should have the right to practice their faith without discrimination.
- Non-religious and less religiously observant people should have the right to make those choices without discrimination.
- You can't go back in time, either to 1948 or 1967.
With those truths as my guide (or at least my assumptions), I propose the following one-state solution that, while not perfect, is both more workable and more realistic than any currently proposed two-state solution.
First, you need to understand that Israel currently has no written constitution, although it has been working on one for some time. Instead, it has a series of constitutional principles that have been enshrined in its judicial system and a set of eleven Basic Laws which cover issues including human rights and dignity, but there is neither the overarching authority nor high burden for amendment that is present in, for example, the U.S. Constitution. (Note that Israel is far from unique in this among democratic countries; Australia, for example, has a constitution but no accompanying bill of rights, making human rights law a very different matter in Australia.)
Given that, my one-state proposal would first require that a formal, written constitution be adopted in Israel, one which guarantees full rights and obligations to all citizens. I would also propose that the constitution adopts Judaism as the official state religion, but that instead of the current framework in which Israeli civil law embodies (some) Jewish religious law, I would suggest an approach similar to that of England, which also has a state religion, but whose laws embody an overall free exercise (or lack thereof) of religious tradition of all types. Under this model, the official state holidays would be the Jewish ones, but no one would be required by secular law to observe any particular Jewish tradition, state marriages would be essentially civil unions (with religious ceremonies available for those who wished them), and neither the law nor an employer could legally discriminate against an Israeli citizen based upon his/her religious tradition. This would be a significant change, of course, but one which would better reflect not only the existing and future non-Jewish Israeli citizens, but even many Jewish Israelis who do not follow Orthodox tradition. (Actually, regardless of the I/P situation, I would like to see Israel do this anyway, but that's a subject for another diary.)
Another major sticking point is rights of return, both for Jews and Palestinian Arabs. As I said in my "preamble," Israel's raison d'etre is to serve as a refuge for Jews, and there is no other country in the world where that is guaranteed. (One only has to look to the refusal to accept European Jewish refugees by the US and other nations during WWII to understand that.) Jews need a universal refuge, because Jews have been and are being discriminated against as Jews throughout the world, regardless of ethnicity, nationality or religiosity. For those Arabs whose families lived in mandate Palestine before 1948, and for that matter those Jews whose property was seized and who were expelled en masse from most of the Arab nations following 1948, the issues are much more economic than safety-related. To that end, I would propose that a coalition of nations interested in supporting a peaceful resolution to the I/P conflict create a fund from which reparations could be paid to all those Arabs and Jews who were forced from their homelands (or who fled and were not allowed back) as a result of the creation of the State of Israel.
For Palestinians currently living in Israel or the West Bank, however, the question is simpler. Under the one-state citizenship model that I describe below, Palestinian Arabs either born in or having lived a certain number of years in Israel or the West Bank would have the right to immediately petition for full citizenship (with all rights and obligations, as described below) once the one-state solution went into effect. Regarding immigrants who move to Israel and wish to become citizens, the existing right of return for Jews would remain (given its rationale for refuge), and non-Jews would have a formal "path to citizenship" as do legal immigrants to the United States now.
A further argument raised by Jews who oppose a 1-state solution is the demographic one, that if Arabs are offered full citizenship, whether under a Palestinian "right of return" or even just those who currently live under Israeli occupation, the Arab birthrates are so much higher than for Israeli Jews that within a few years, Israel would no longer have a Jewish majority and lose its status as a Jewish state. I do not believe the birthrate issue is such a serious one, both because improved economic conditions like those that would result for Arabs with full citizenship in the newly expanded Israel tend to result in reduced birthrates for most cultures, and because the more religious Jews in Israel have substantially higher birthrates than Israeli society as a whole. (This chart shows Israeli birth statistics over the past few years.) To address the concern, however, as well as to ensure Israel's ability to serve as a refuge, I would propose that the new Israeli Constitution include a significant supermajority requirement of both legislative and popular vote in order to amend its provisions, perhaps 75%. In that way, if the demographics ever shifted so much as to enable Arabs to make that change, the character of Israel would already have so changed that it would be a different country entirely anyway.
One final thought: I recognize that this idea does not provide for Palestinian self-determination in anywhere near the same way that a Palestinian state would. This proposal presumes that, when choosing between self-determination in an economically, geographically and militarily stunted mini-state and full citizenship in a larger, more secure and substantially more economically vibrant state, the latter is preferable. (I also recognize that I'm not the one who has to make that choice personally, but that's the reality of any opining on the I/P conflict by those who don't live there.)
Okay, that's the background; here's the plan: As I suggested, I would propose that the entire region now known as Israel, the West Bank and the Golan Heights (which Israel has already annexed, although this is not fully accepted internationally) be combined into a full State of Israel, with the end to any formal occupation. Everyone currently living within those borders would be entitled to full Israeli citizenship, and I mean full: full protection of the law, full access to education and employment opportunities (some sort of affirmative action might be needed until those opportunities developed naturally), and most importantly, full obligations of citizenship. That would include universal service, either military or alternative, although given the unlikelihood of an Arab/Israeli war particularly if this works, I would support integrating Arabs into the Israeli military if they wished to serve, as it would help speed the overall integration into society. The Palestinian Authority could be converted into a formal Ministry of Arab Affairs, and given substantial power over issues of importance to Arab communities both within the former Israel proper and the former West Bank.
As far as the government, it could continue in the current (chaotic) parliamentary party structure, or perhaps transition to a form where different regions could elect their own representatives to the Knesset (analogous to the state/province model elsewhere), allowing for greater Arab representation within the Knesset. The curriculum of the public schools, instead of teaching Jewish tradition as it does now, would instead focus on areas of civics and national identity, helping to install in all Israelis a sense of shared nationality and purpose. All citizens, whether Jewish or non-Jewish, would be subject to equal law enforcement for crimes, and a hate crime/terrorism law could severely punish anyone who chose to target another religion's Israeli adherents for violence.
Is this a long shot? To be sure. Does it make sense? I believe it does, far more than any current 2-state proposal. It also has the benefit of building on existing efforts like the constitutional drafting process, and requires much less uprooting than the creation of 2 neighboring states. It would grant Palestinians living in Israel and the West Bank full citizenship, an end to occupation, freedom of religion and economic opportunity. It would provide economic justice for all who had lost their homes as a result of the founding of the State of Israel. It would preserve Israel's status as both a Jewish state and a democracy, while reducing some of the challenges that dichotomy currently raises. Israeli society as a whole could focus more attention on growth as the security burden was reduced, and the Israeli workforce could gain access to the many talented Arabs who are currently limited in their opportunities for education and employment. Jerusalem would remain the united capital of the Jewish state of Israel, which Israeli Jews demand, but be even more open to people of all faiths and especially Palestinian Arabs for living, working and worship than it currently is.
I know this is long, and perhaps overly idealistic, but it's the only thing that I can think of that might work. As with healthcare in the US, the status quo in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is unacceptable and unsustainable, and the underlying weaknesses of the two-state approach will likely doom any such effort to failure and result in more bloodshed, conflict and a reduction in human dignity and security for everyone involved.
I look forward to your thoughts. {ProfJonathan}