In the past week there has been a flurry of activity around the renewed possibility of a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As frustration mounts over the interminable peace process and the glaring futility of the proximity talks, two American authors, an Israeli leftist and a Likud member of the Knesset publicly endorse the one-state solution as the most likely settlement (if not the best) in the same twenty-four hour period.

The rising chorus in support of a binational state is the culmination of the decades-long failure to separate the Palestinians and Israelis into two different nations. NewPolicy.org calls on the Obama administration and Congress to act quickly to end the occupation with all its crushing injustice and horrific violence, recognizing that a one-state solution is another viable option as facts on the ground continue to render the two-state solution unworkable.

Meron Benvenisti

On April 29^th, Meron Benvenisiti, former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and renowned Israeli leftist, argued in an interview in The Guardian that the time for a two-state solution has long passed and that the only viable solution left is for the two peoples to share the land of historical Palestine. In its search for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Obama administration should heed Meron Benvenisti when he asserts the existing binationalism, "not as a political or ideological programme so much as a de facto reality masquerading as a temporary state of affairs.”

John Mearsheimer

Similarly, on the same day John Mearsheimer, co-author of The Israel Lobby, gave a speech at the Palestine Center in Washington, DC, describing that improbable success of the two-state solution given that Israelis are not willing to make the sacrifices for a viable Palestinian state. John Mearsheimer concludes that Israel will become an apartheid state, whose legitimacy will be contested between progressive and hard-line American Jews, curiously leaving out the role of other Americans who have just as much stake in this conflict. After the failure of the unstable apartheid state, Mearsheimer predicts the creation of a binational state for both Jews and Palestinians.

Stephen Walt

Coincidentally, Stephen Walt, co-author of The Israel Lobby with Mearsheimer, wrote a response to Aaron Miller’s piece on Foreign Policy, asking why Aaron Miller, while lamenting the end of a two-state solution, neglects to point out the only possible option in such an event: a binational state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Stephen Walt asks with the end of the two-state solution, should the United States accept apartheid, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians or push for a binational state?

Reuven Rivlin

Finally and perhaps most compelling, Reuven Rivlin, Likud MK and former speaker of the Knesset, stated that he would rather welcome Palestinians as citizens of Israel than accept a two-state solution. Furthermore Reuven Rivlin went on to urge for the foundation of a "true partnership" and to highlight that Palestinian Arabs are an integral part of the nation of Israel.

The RIse of Binationalism

The comments of the past week highlight the major impediments to a two-state solution, including the division of Jerusalem, Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem, not to mention the 500,000 Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank who account for 10% of Israel’s total Jewish population. Further complications to the two-state solution include what is termed as Israel’s narrow waist, a ten-mile stretch at its narrowest between the West Bank and the Mediterranean Sea, which many Israelis view as simply indefensible borders. Finally, perhaps most importantly, the West Bank of the Jordan River sits atop the water resources of the nation and is of great import to Israel’s security in the arid region.

As the gap between reality and the two-state map widens, a veritable chorus of American and Israeli intellectuals join their Palestinian counterparts in pushing for a binational state. While NewPolicy.org vehemently opposes the occupation and works to end the consequent conflict, it does not specifically endorse either the one-state or two-states solution. Either settlement can be worked into a just resolution to the conflict. However, NewPolicy.org will not accept an apartheid situation and neither should the American public, the Obama administration or the United States Congress.