two state solution

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks at the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship at J Street's 2019 National Gala Dinner, October 28, 2019. (Photo courtesy of J Street)

J Street conference confronts America’s ‘blank check’ to Israel

By making U.S. aid to Israel the central theme of its 2019 conference, J Street is challenging bipartisan support for Israel ahead of 2020. Now that the organization is starting to talk the talk, will it walk the walk?

By Mairav Zonszein November 1, 2019

A mural depicting President Donald Trump kissing an Israeli army watchtower is seen on the separation barrier in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, August 4, 2017. (Flash90)

Israel’s one-state reality is sowing chaos in American politics

Until U.S. lawmakers and major Jewish organizations adjust to the current one-state reality, the acrimony that has marked the last several years under Netanyahu and Trump will only intensify. For decades, the two-state solution has been the central pillar of the bipartisan pro-Israel consensus in Washington. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, every single U.S. administration has been…

By Joshua Leifer August 26, 2019

Israeli security forces guard as Jewish Israelis tour the Palestinian side of the old city market in the West Bank city of Hebron, June 15, 2019. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Confederation can’t answer the most important issue in Israel-Palestine

Any framework that comes to replace the two-state solution must aspire toward decolonization, and accept that Zionism and full civic equality are irreconcilable. Changes on the ground over the past decade have allowed Israel to consolidate its rule between the river and the sea. While the final nail in the two-state coffin was hammered long…

By Henriette Chacar July 2, 2019

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PODCAST: The other two-state solution

The two-state solution may be dead but that doesn’t mean the dream of a Palestinian state is too. The +972 Podcast takes a deep dive into confederation. Listen here: iTunes/Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify Is the two-state solution really dead? Who knows if it ever will be. But an equitable one-state solution isn’t a given, and…

By +972 Magazine June 14, 2019

Illustrative photo of Israeli troops rush through an opening in the separation wall surrounding the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, West Bank, March 28, 2018. (Wisam Hashlamoun/FLASH90)

Annexation is happening whether Netanyahu is reelected or not

Netanyahu’s declaration that he will annex parts of the West Bank is alarming, but it only names a process that was long ago put into action, and which is now part of the mainstream Israeli discourse. Four years ago, on the eve of Israeli elections, Benjamin Netanyahu promised in a television interview that there would…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 6, 2019

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits a military drill in southern Israel, January 23, 2019. (Flash90)

What the candidates in Israel’s elections say about the conflict

For a long time, politicians perpetuated the idea that Israel sought peace and a two-state solution, even while taking contradictory steps on the ground. In these elections, that dissonance seems to be dwindling. A look at what each party is saying. The scramble to predict who might win the Israeli elections is understandable, but it…

By Dahlia Scheindlin March 14, 2019

Israeli soldiers watch Palestinian women walk towards Qalandiya checkpoint, West Bank, August 20, 2010. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

What Israelis aren’t, but should be talking about in these elections

Could these elections bring about the end of Netanyahu’s rule? Why isn’t anyone talking about half a century of occupation? And do these elections even matter, anyway? +972 and Local Call writers open up on what’s at stake this time around. Reading much of the Israeli and international press, one might get the impression that…

By Edo Konrad March 6, 2019

Former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz speaks at the annual World Zionist Conference, in Jerusalem on November 02, 2017. Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The future is the center: Meet the parties shaking up Israeli politics

Caught between growing extremism on the right and a battered left, Israelis are flocking to a new crop of centrist politicians who prioritize economic issues over solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Galia Ben Haim discussed her political opinions while driving back from jail. In addition to her day job, she volunteers at a women’s prison. The inmates, she says, committed their…

By Dahlia Scheindlin January 28, 2019

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, MK David Bitan, Culture Minister Miri Regev and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend a Knesset plenum session, December 5, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Don’t believe the hype: The Israeli right is weaker than it seems

The right had a decade to annex the West Bank, quash Palestinian aspirations, and thwart Hamas in Gaza. Yet today, more than ever, its invincibility is anything but certain. By Meron Rapoport The past decade belonged to the Israeli right. Since 2009, the right-wing bloc easily defeated its opponents and won elections, while Prime Minister Benjamin…

By +972 Magazine December 27, 2018

An Israeli settler argues with Palestinians during a protest against a new tent placed by Jewish settlers near the West bank village of Bani Naem on June 23, 2018 (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90).

In advocating for a Palestinian state, Haaretz forgets about the Palestinians

According to Haaretz, all Israel has to do to maintain the relevance of the two-state solution is evacuate 9,800 Jewish families from the West Bank. How do the Palestinians factor into this vision? They do not. By Meron Rapoport The headline on the front page of last weekend’s Haaretz weekend magazine was a short one:…

By +972 Magazine August 20, 2018

A Muslim Palestinian worshipper headed to the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem walks by an Israeli soldier as she crosses the Qalandia checkpoint on August 05, 2011 (Miriam Alster/ Flash90).

Israeli, Palestinian support for two states hits record low

A new survey finds that fewer Jewish Israelis and Palestinians now support the two-state solution. And while support for armed struggle against the occupation has dropped, more Jewish Israelis now support a ‘definitive war’ against Palestinians. By Henriette Chacar Support for a two-state solution is at the lowest level among both Israelis and Palestinians in almost two decades,…

By Henriette Chacar August 13, 2018

An Israeli Border Police officer is seen in front of Israel's separation barrier in Abu Dis, West Bank. (Kobi Gideon/Flash90)

A more sensible two-state vision for Israel and Palestine

Political separation doesn’t necessitate geographic and demographic separation. By Said Zeedani Just a few weeks into the al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, I was enticed by and attracted to a unique idea for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which continues to entice me 18 years later. The contours of the idea — acceptance of the two-state solution,…

By +972 Magazine July 18, 2018

Palestinian, Israeli, and foreign activists attempt to block Israeli equipment brought to prepare for the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, July 5, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

The demolition of Khan al-Ahmar is more than just a war crime

While the imminent destruction of Khan al-Ahmar is an utmost humanitarian concern and quite possibly a war crime, many are overlooking the strategic importance of this tiny hamlet for the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The residents of Khan al-Ahmar have spent the past several weeks waiting for Israeli bulldozers to arrive to demolish their entire village and forcibly…

By Edo Konrad July 9, 2018