The biggest problem with the two-state solution is that it sounds so nice. It seems to make so much intuitive sense. I mean what could be fairer and politically logical then to take two competing cultures, who are fighting over land and national rights, and give them both their own state committed to the proposition that the state will be committed to justice and the service of democratic values. The assumption is that the two states will be politically rational. What the general public fails to recognize is that the solution has been discussed ad nauseam in Israel and is mostly rejected by the political leadership. Here is why:

The Israelis do not want a couple of hundred thousand angry Arabs at their doorstep. It does not matter how committed they are to peace and cooperation the history of the conflict is too intense to go away peacefully. There has been too little consideration about what an actual “day after” would look like and all aspects of Israeli culture and politics would be challenged. This day after must be prepared in three ways which have always been part of Israel’s demands during peace discussions. And each of these three criteria must be satisfactory to Israelis who currently find fault in all of them.                                                     

The first is a political consideration which assumes that the West Bank and Gaza are manageable at all. What political entity is currently in place that could guarantee a smooth transition to a selected form of government as well as access to legitimately operating political functions in the West Bank and Gaza? At present, such institutions do not exist, except for perhaps the PLA (Palestinian Liberation Authority) which is challenged by a majority that want the PLA dissolved. Security is always the primary concern for Israelis and would probably be the first agenda item for Israelis in the post-October 7^th era.

The Israelis care fundamentally about security. If you build, for example, a state that goes up to Israeli borders and extends current Palestinian territory then you are building a pathway that goes directly from the West Bank to the Arab states. Moreover, the slaughter of so many on October 7 certainly destabilized any sense of security Israelis might hold. They are currently still in her aftershock of October 7 and have much work to do to figure out new forms of security in the face of this new form of violent contact. Israelis are already building a buffer zone between their own borders and the space that extends beyond into the Gaza Strip as an early warning system for any future attacks the likes of October 7. And as you might easily see this buffer zone will require military protection or at a minimum long-term military management.

The economic issues are also overwhelming. The Palestinian political and economic structures should have been developing an indigenous economy. Instead, the West Bank and Gaza are rife with corruption and devoted too much time and attention to economic existence from the global economy and Palestinians living outside Palestine.

The two-state solution is an illusion

Another key issue is the balance of power in the area. Neither side is going to agree to an arrangement the disadvantages themselves yet almost no political or geographic arrangement results in the equality. Estimates are that about some new Palestine would only comprise about 20% of historic Palestine. This is bound to be a problem so intractable it may not be solvable. Israeli settlements have complicated the matter by increasing their size and presence in what is now Palestinian territory. Many settlements would have to be dissolved and removed. Violence and tension seems easy to imagine.

 So many factors enter into discussions about the two-state solution and the problems and difficulties posed seem to be insurmountable as the two sides confront moral conflicts– that is, conflicts that are particularly resistant to resolution because they are identified as vital and not easily negotiable or discussable. They confront the existential nature of the two sides in the conflict and carry with them considerable emotions and passions. Both parties to the conflict feel vulnerable and threatened by the two-state solution by its very definition. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has morphed into a classic intractable moral conflict which is responsible for the failure of the creation of two viable states. What was once a possible solution is now political fantasy. There will be no two states.