Is a Two-State Solution Possible?

 📣 Read for your own knowledge! I like to share questions I recieve from others and my responses, because these can be good learning opportunities for others. ⤵️ This info is all on the blog (pinned to the top of this page) if you ever want to refer back to it. I am also sharing this in honor of November 30th coming up next week, which is marked in Israel as an official commemoration of the expulsion of the Jews from the Arab countries and, later, from Iran. Let us remember how our people were expelled, and understand that now we are being forced to share what is less than 1% of the Middle East- the only Jewish state- for reasons that are not valid. 

QUESTION: Do you believe in a two-state solution?

ANSWER: First off, this land that is now called Israel was initially split (a two-state solution) between Jews and Palestinians by the United Nations by the Partition Plan in 1947. The Arabs and Palestinians rejected it and launched a war of annihilation against the Jewish state… which is why we have this issue in the first place.

Theoretically it would be nice, but I don’t believe it will work because of history and the current attitude exhibited by the Palestinian leadership. Many Palestinians and their leaders do not want Jews in Israel (or anywhere, really). The Palestinian leadership and many Palestinians chant death to Israel, and to Jews in general. Israel made so many offers that were rejected and the ones that were accepted did not bring peace (ex: Gaza in 2005 was given up for peace and Israel was told there would be but look what’s happening now). 

Even when Israel in 2000 offered to create a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and 97% of the West Bank- Yasser Arafat rejected the proposal without even making a counter offer. Arafat, according to chief U.S. negotiator Dennis Ross, was not willing to end the conflict with Israel. The Palestinians subsequently instigated a five-year war of terror that claimed more than 1,000 Israeli lives.

Either way, Israel legally acquired this land in the 1967 war which, by the way, it was attacked by Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Israel defended itself and won, and then the Arabs got angry. To learn more about the peace process, visit: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/myths-and-facts-peace 

The Palestinians demand that all settlements be dismantled from the West Bank and Jerusalem. While they maintain that Arabs have the right to live in Israel, they deny the right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria. 

History shows the Palestinians are never happy with what they are given. That’s just the reality. If they truly want peace we would have had peace long ago. Palestinians have been offered a state of their own several times: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/mf2017.pdf#page=259 

Israel cannot go back to its 1967 borders, as many claim it should and is morally required to do, and should not even have to because it is not safe for Israel. The Palestinians will continue to attack and target Israelis (as they are doing now from Gaza), and the span of land will be too narrow (Israel is already small as it is) so their rockets will be able to reach all of Israel. Also, this land was legally acquired during the war (which Israel did NOT start).

People believe Jews kicked out Palestinians, however many of them chose to leave on their own when the Arab countries told them to leave so they could bomb the Jews and get rid of them, which to their surprise they were not able to do because Israel won. This was the Israeli War of Independence, fought between the newly declared State of Israel and five Arab nations. So they can’t leave expecting for others to be killed and then when they aren’t killed complain that they don’t have land. That’s just not how anything works. 

QUESTION: Why not let the Palestinians govern themselves, give a little bit more land on Gaza Strip and West Bank, allow easy travel to holy cities that are in Israel or make it so they can move to those places easily? Let The Arab nations take them. 

ANSWER: Israel has instituted checkpoints for one reason – to prevent Palestinian terrorists from infiltrating Israel. Without checkpoints there were Palestinians entering Israel to carry out terrorist attacks. The Palestinian Authority (PA) made a strategic choice to use terror to achieve its aims and something had to be done to protect the Israeli population. If the Palestinian Authority was fulfilling its obligations to dismantle the terrorist networks and disarm the terrorists, and its security forces were taking adequate measures to prevent Palestinians from planning and launching attacks, the checkpoints would be unnecessary.

Israel tries to balance its security concerns with the welfare of the Palestinians, and is especially sensitive to the medical needs of Palestinians. Thus, many Palestinians are allowed to enter Israel to receive treatment from some of the finest medical facilities in the world. Many Palestinians also work alongside Israelis in hospitals and factories, etc. 

We already gave all of Gaza in 2005. Palestinians now target Israelis with incendiary kites and balloons despite already having all of Gaza. West Bank was already offered and rejected.

Israel wants Arab nations to take the Palestinians, especially because they were the ones who told them to leave when Israel was declared a state and then left them as refugees when they lost to Israel. Jordan is high percentage Palestinians, yet they wont accept the "refugees.”

To learn more about the refugee issue, go here: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/myths-and-facts-the-refugees 

After transferring responsibility for virtually the entire Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority, Israel no longer controlled any refugee camps and ceased contributing to UNRWA. Meanwhile, in addition to receiving annual funding from UNRWA for the refugees, the PA has received billions of dollars in international aid and yet has failed to build a single house to allow even one family to move out of a refugee camp into permanent housing. Given the amount of aid (approximately $5.5 billion since 1993) the PA has received, it is shocking and outrageous that more than half a million Palestinians are being forced by their own leaders to remain in squalid camps.