Come Together

A single, unified Israeli-Palestinian state is the only realistic resolution to the ongoing conflict, experts have told Newsweek

- by TOM O'CONNOR

ON OCTOBER 6, 2023, AN ISSUE OF NEWSWEEK magazine hit newsstands proclaiming, “The Palestinian Dream Is Dying—and It's a Nightmare for Israel.” The following day would be the deadliest in Israel's history, sparking a war in which more Palestinians are estimated to have been killed than in all previous conflicts combined.

But the dream of an independent Palestine had begun to fade long before then. Israel's territorial expansion, the decline of the Palestinian National Authority, or PA, and the growing influence of Hamas have eroded the feasibility of a two-state resolution, creating an untenable status quo that shattered with the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.

Now, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government considering territorial annexation and mass expulsions while two rival Palestinian governments teeter on the verge of collapse, not only the hopes for a Palestinian state but the existence of Palestinians is at risk. There is an alternative, albeit one that elicits consternation on both sides of the decades-long struggle: one state for two peoples.

The prospect of uniting two populations divided by history, culture, religion and deep-seated animosity is fraught with challenges. Yet, as other solutions lose viability, the conversation is gaining momentum.

“Now, the real discourse is—de facto—not between the one state or two states but rather what kind of one state will it be,” former Israeli interim President Avraham Burg told Newsweek. “One state with two regimes, one full of privileges to the Jews and one of total discrimination to the Palestinians, or one state with equal rights to all?”