The two-state delusion
A two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict looks detached from reality
The most extraordinary notion in international discourse about the Israel-Palestine conflict is the idea that a two-state solution is an endgame that everyone wants.
Parties from the US to China to the UN are calling for a two-state solution. The latest terms put to Israel are normalized ties with Saudi Arabia in exchange for a path to Palestinian statehood. The idea presupposes that this is what the conflict is about for Hamas. That is a delusion. Hamas wants to annihilate Israel and replace it with a Palestinian state. As long as that is the case, the conflict will remain intractable.
Egypt recognized Israel in 1980, Jordan in 1994, and the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco in 2020 as part of the Abrahamic Accords. Saudi Arabia was close to doing so before the October 7 attacks, and is still open to it. Saudi Arabia can offer normalization, but only the Palestinians can offer peace. Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. The Palestinian Authority (PA) does, but it does not act like it, and has rejected multiple peace deals.
HAMAS MEANS WHAT IT SAYS
The biggest obstacle is the Islamism to which Hamas subscribes. Hamas’ 1988 founding charter is a dizzyingly surreal mix of lies from the past century’s three most deadly ideologies - Nazism, Communism and Islamism. No sane person could believe them; yet many people do. Hamas outlines clearly that its raison de'tre is to destroy Israel, kill Jews, and not accept a two-state solution.
On Israel, Hamas states in the pre-amble to its charter that "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
On Jews, Article 7 states that “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him."
On a two-state solution, Article 13 states that "[Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement... Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam... There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility."
Hamas issued a revised charter in 2017 but refuses to revoke its 1988 one. For Hamas, destroying Israel and killing Jews is a religious commandment. It is a worldview incompatible with any land-for-peace deal. Israel gave the land of Gaza in 2005, and in return got 18 years of Hamas rocket fire, the October 7 pogrom, and vows from Hamas that it would happen “again and again".
Israel’s response to the October 7 attack is taking a terrible civilian toll. The question is not whether it is justifiable, but who is responsible for the unjustifiable happening. Hamas bears full responsibility. Hamas is not fighting for terrestrial concerns. Apologists fantasize that there must be some real-world grievance. This is backwards. Hamas is the cause of many of Israel's punishing policies, not a consequence of them.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Moral Clarity: Truths in Politics and Culture to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.