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My first preference is NOT a two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict. I have tolerated the idea of two states, living side by side because of the assumption of a third independence for the Old City.
It makes more sense to adopt a federal system of government in which Palestine is an independent state, essentially governing its own affairs, in a system similar to the federal and state system found in the United States.
Palestine under this proposal would be part of a Greater Israel, sharing the benefits of Jewish hegemony. Such an arrangement would provide Palestine time to develop its institutions.
A federal system would almost immediately resolve nearly if not all outstanding issues. Palestine could vie for greater independence later if so desired.
SETTLEMENTS
Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank number as many as 500,000 according to some reports. They are driven by the notion it is God's will for them to possess the land. Their religious fundamentalism precludes them from willingly vacating the West Bank.
The Palestinians want to make the West Bank the site of their future nation-state.
Perhaps the most formidable opposition to peace facing Israel will come from the settlers and their political supporters. When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the Israeli Defense Force had to forcibly evacuate Jewish settlers there. The televised footage of Jews hauling kicking and screaming Jews off their historic homeland was a moment of irony, especially for those Jews who had fled to Israel to escape anti-semitism.
The Gaza withdrawal emboldened the Palestinian faction Hamas, which perceived Israel in a weakened, defensive posture. Instead of trading land for peace, Hamas traded land for rockets, engaging the south of Israel in a campaign of terror. Hamas rained thousands of rockets against Jews.
The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was surely a curse, human and divine. Gaza is a foreshadow of the consequences to Israel should Jewish settlers in the West Bank be forced to cede territory in exchange for an illusory peace.
The peaceful coexistence of Jews and Arabs must be achieved without forcibly evacuating Jews. The question is, How?
SECURITY
There are numerous obstacles to achieving peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Foremost among them is security.
Israel insists any future Palestinian nation-state that exists alongside Israel must be demilitarized. This condition is atypical for any nation-state, putting Palestine in the unenviable position of pondering its own security. There will be inevitable threats to Palestine (as well as Israel) posed by the enemies of peace, including Al-Qaeda and Al-Qaeda-like sympathizers who use violence as a means of protest.
Hamas, as a rival of the Fatah faction, is a threat to any Palestinian statehood that recognizes the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state.
Under the security conditions demanded by Israel, Palestine would have to depend for its own security on an agreeable third party occupation force, such as one supplied by the United Nations. But such an arrangement is unlikely.
Israel itself would have to pledge to protect Palestine against aggressors, including Hamas. But is this something Israel is prepared to do as a condition of peace?
CONCLUSION
The impediments to peace in the Middle East are numerous. A state and federal system with its inherent shared political is one way of resolving them.
