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Does Anyone Really Understand the Two-State Solution?

(Jerusalem Post) Amb. Alan Baker - The two-state solution for settling the Israeli-Palestinian dispute has been adopted by the U.S. and the international community as the magic panacea for all the ills of the Middle East. Yet the two-state solution has never been accepted by Israel and the Palestinians as the agreed solution to their dispute, and it does not figure in any major peace process document, such as Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), or the 1993-5 Oslo Accords. The Oslo Accords, still the only valid and mutually agreed basis for resolving the dispute, determine that the permanent status of the territories remains an open negotiating issue. They contain no reference to a one-, two- or three-state solution. Former Israeli Prime Ministers Rabin, Sharon and Netanyahu each visualized some form of Palestinian entity, possibly a demilitarized state, existing side-by-side in amity and mutual respect with Israel, with limited security and sovereign prerogatives. Any such state would be expected to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, just as Israel would recognize a Palestinian state as the nation-state of the Palestinian people. However, no such two-state solution could materialize without cognizance of the necessary, basic components that a Palestinian state entity would need to meet, including political and economic stability, unified leadership, the ability to represent the entire Palestinian people, and the removal of terror elements and infrastructure. The writer, who heads the international law program at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is former legal counsel to Israel's Foreign Ministry and participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians.
2022-05-19 00:00:00
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