Netanyahu Victory Opens Door for One-State Solution

18 March 2015. Just before the election, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu ruled out the creation of a Palestinian State, which means that he repudiated the two-state solution to the dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

This has been the pronounced objective of American foreign policy since the Madrid Conference and the Middle East Peace Negotiations in 1991 held under the auspices of the United States government and with the full support of the international community.

If implemented, Netanyahu’s decision will leave the Palestinians no alternative but to pursue the creation of one-state of Palestine that will include what is known today as Palestine, Israel and Jerusalem and where a majority of its citizens will be Palestinians.

Before the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of 15 November 1988, the position of the Palestine National Council and the Palestine Liberation Organization was that there should be only one, democratic and secular state for the entire mandate for Palestine, which would include Israel within it.

It was PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat himself who encouraged the Palestine National Council to accept the two-state solution in the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of 15 November 1988. After 27 years of fruitlessly trying to pursue a two-state solution, it is now time for the Palestine National Council and the PLO to reconsider their options.

Professor Francis A. Boyle, University of Illinois College of Law, served as Legal Adviser to the PLO and Chairman Yasser Arafat on the 15 November 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence and as legal adviser to the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace negotiations and its chair Dr. Haidar Abdul Shaffi from 1991 to 1993. His books include Palestine, Palestinians, and International Law (2003) and The Palestinian Right of Return under International Law (2011).

Notes

Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, served as legal adviser to the PLO. His books include thePalestinian Right of Return under International Law. He just wrote the piece "Netanyahu Victory Opens Door for One-State Solution."

He said today: "Many have argued that the two-state solution has failed and therefore the Palestinian leadership should go back to pursuing a one-state solution, akin to how the South African conflict was resolved, giving one-person-one-vote to everyone regardless of their religious, ethnic or language group. Indeed, the Palestinian leadership has indicated it would embrace it if the two-state solution proved a dead end. For example, almost exactly three years ago, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee, was asked: 'Do you think that after one, two, or three years the PLO would say that it is time to pursue a one-state option?' She responded: 'It probably might be even sooner than one, two, or three years, because at the pace that is being pursued by this Israeli government, they really are making sure that the two-state solution is dead.'"

NAOMI DANN

Dann is media coordinator at Jewish Voice for Peace, which released the statement "Likud’s win bolstered by Netanyahu’s racism and opposition towards peace with the Palestinians," which states: "While Israel calls itself 'the only democracy in the Middle East,' 4.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza (over 36 percent of the people living under Israeli rule) do not have the right to vote for the government that ultimately decides their fate.

"Given the racist war-mongering and rejection of the two-state solution, American Jews who express support for peace will need to rethink their relationship to an Israeli government that is explicitly anti-peace. As Israeli journalist Noam Sheizaf wrote yesterday, 'For years we have been hearing that Israel will either end the occupation or cease to be a democracy. Could it be that the Jewish public has made its choice?'

"While election results offer little hope for immediate change to Israeli policies, a government led again by Netanyahu will likely increase Israel’s growing global isolation, and prompt increasing pressure from outside forces including the United States and the grassroots, global movement for justice and equality to hold Israel accountable for its continued occupation, violations of international law, and human rights abuses."

The group "endorses the call from Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) as part of our work for freedom, justice and equality for all people. We believe that the time-honored, non-violent tools proposed by the BDS call provide powerful opportunities to make that vision real."