In a new op-ed in the Washington Post on Saturday, US president Joe Biden said that the Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza and the West Bank following the war between Israel and Hamas.
Biden writes:
As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.
Biden also said that a two-state solution is “the only way to ensure the long-term security of both the Israeli and the Palestinian people”, adding that Gaza “must never again be used as a platform for terrorism”.
That would be nice huh. But it will never happen under Israels watch.
Israel’s watch? Israel agreed several times to various two state solutions. Palestinians have always rejected recognizing Israel as a state. Here’s a reality check:
If someone steals your land, you tend not to want to split it in half. As you Link shows, sentiments are shifting more recently.
Accurately they beleived that a 2 state solution is not possible. Look at the islands created in the west bank by illegal israeli settlments. Going back to 1967 boarders would mean relocating the most radical and conservative israelis.
Frankly a 1 state solution is necessary, one which gives israelis and palestinians equal rights and say in governance. It’s everyone’s 2nd or 3rd choice, but it’s that or genocide of palestinians unfortunately.
That ain’t gunna work either. The options are let one side win, or remove everyone in no state option. Ie. No permanent habitation within the borders of mandatory Palestine, you can visit for 30 days but you cannot stay and cannot re-enter for a year.
Any other option will have the same effect long term.
I hope his idea is not to just plop the two communities together, but also integrate them. I listened to a podcast about a Muslim woman who married a Gazan Palestinian and went to live there eventually. She said they were very different from what she was used to. She worked in healthcare, had difficulty understanding their accent and just fitting in. Those people were under an embargo for years, so that explains the stagnation of everything.
Her grandmother was Palestinians, but I can’t remember if she grew up in the West Bank or Saudi Arabia.
See me talking like it will ever happen…
Biden doesn’t care. If he honestly believed in a two state solution, he would have taken more action before the recent violence, and certainly once it started.
