Primer: Two-State Solution
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, which proposed the partition of Palestine, a British colony, into independent Jewish and Arab nation-states with Jerusalem under international administration. Arab leaders rejected the proposal on the basis that it violated the self-determination of the Arab people, and following the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, war broke out between Israel and neighboring Arab states, producing a lasting refugee crisis for Palestinians. In the decades that followed, particularly after Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem in 1967, the two-state solution emerged as the dominant international framework for resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The two-state solution, or more accurately two-state solutions in the plural, refers to a family of proposed resolutions to the conflict in the former territory of British Palestine that would establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Although this framework was formally endorsed through diplomatic efforts such as the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, it has since been undermined by settler expansion, recurring violence, and political divisions within both Israeli and Palestinian leadership. After the October 7 attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza, international discussion of a renewed pathway to Palestinian statehood intensified, but this has met sustained resistance from Israel’s government, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This week’s resolution is primarily concerned with whether a two-state ideal remains desirable, and for whom, given the tradeoffs that any reconstitution of the current order would entail.
Supporters of two-state solutions might argue that, whatever its practical obstacles, partition into two independent states remains the least bad framework for reconciling the two national movements that both claim legitimate political self-determination in the same land. In this view, a Palestinian state alongside an Israeli state is the most direct way to secure collective self-rule and international recognition for Palestinians, and to stably mediate the seemingly interminable conflict in the region, which could not be done by indefinitely subordinating Palestinian statehood to Israel.
On the other hand, opponents of two-state solutions might adopt a number of different attitudes towards Israel and Palestine.
Those who favor the Israeli claim to land in the region may reject a two-state solution on the grounds that the establishment of a Palestinian state is neither practicable nor desirable. From this perspective, a fully sovereign Palestinian state would pose an unacceptable risk to Israel, serving as a nexus for hostile actors and constraining Israel’s ability to respond decisively to threats. Proponents of this view argue that the territorial concessions on the part of Israel which would be the prerequisite for any two-state solution would be unacceptable and detrimental to security in the region. As a result, they favor continued Israeli control over much or all of the territory, sometimes paired with limited Palestinian autonomy, on the grounds that Israeli sovereignty is necessary to ensure long-term stability and defense.
Another group of opponents might reject the two-state framework from the opposite direction, arguing that it fails to deliver justice or genuine self-determination for Palestinians, long-suppressed by the expansion of Zionist settlers. Critics in this camp contend that partition entrenches an unequal status quo by legitimizing borders which have historically derived from occupation, illegal settlement, and abuses of power. They might argue that the very condition for a Palestinian state in the current arrangement of things is the end of the Israeli nation-state. In its place, they propose, should stand an alternative political arrangement, such as a single democratic state with equal rights for all inhabitants, or a federal model. In this view, a shared political order can resolve structural inequalities and address the core issues of the current crisis.
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"Israel-Palestine button" by Original raster by Akiersch; SVG by SiBr4 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.