How can the two-state solution in Palestine be achieved?

As Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip continues, in which more than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 55,243 others injured, most world leaders and international organizations see that the way to end the longest conflict in modern history between the Palestinians and Israelis is the two-state solution. However, how will this solution be reached amid the current far-right Israeli government’s rejection?

In the Riyadh-held summit on November 11, Arab and Islamic countries affirmed that the only path for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace is ending the Israeli occupation and settling the Palestinian issue based on the two-state solution. European countries, led by Spain, have the same view.

On December 21, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell on his X account, “We need to use our leverage and engage more in the Middle East for a two-state solution.” He previously said on November 27 during the Mediterranean forum in Barcelona, Spain, that establishing a Palestinian state under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) is the “only viable solution.”

Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, said on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 29, “It was long past time to move towards a two-state solution, based on United Nations resolutions and international law, with Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security, and with Jerusalem as the capital of both states. The United Nations would not waver in its commitment to the Palestinian people.”

The concept of the two-state solution dates back to 1947 when the United Nations proposed to divide Palestine into a Palestinian Arab state and another state for Jews, according to the UN. Almost five decades later, the Oslo Accord was the first deal between the Palestinians (represented by later Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat) and the Israelis (represented by late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin) in 1993. According to the accord, both sides recognize each other. In 1995, the Oslo Accord II was reached and gave the Palestinians the right to self-determination with their own state on the territories Palestinians had before the 1967 war, alongside Israel, which was recognized by the British one day after the end of the UK mandate in Palestine. Despite the Oslo Accords, Israel has kept and expanded its illegal settlements on the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and has repeated its wars on the Gaza Strip. 

In his interview with the Egyptian TV program “Akher Kalema” on the ON channel on December 27, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that a total of 142 countries recognize the State of Palestine and the two-state solution, which means the majority of the United Nations member states. Palestine has only been an observer state in the United Nations since 2012, he said, calling upon European countries and the rest of the world to recognize Palestine as an independent member state in the United Nations.

On the other side, Israel has rejected the two-state solution and seeks through its war on Gaza to annihilate the residents through its non-stop shelling and the forced displacement of Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

In a press conference held at the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was “proud” of preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state and putting the “brakes” on the Oslo Accords, Times of Israel reported on December 17.

Israeli Minister of Communication Shlomo Karhi said on his X account on December 12, “There will be no Palestinian state here. We will never allow another state to be established between the Jordan [River] and the sea. We will never go back to Oslo.”

Nourhan El Sheikh, an Egyptian professor of political science at Cairo University and director of the Youth Studies & Leadership Training Unit, told Jusoor Post that it is quite difficult for Israel to accept this solution, but this movement can be brought by Arab and Muslim countries through their recognition of the Palestinian state.

She added that the most important thing is to move inside the United Nations by introducing a draft resolution in the UN General Assembly to adopt the establishment of the Palestinian state and consequently for it to be a full member state in the UN. 

“[Adopting the two-state solution] is a quite important step that gives a strong legitimacy for the Palestinian Authority to be a full member state that is recognized by the international community. This is the most important step. Afterward, the step of negotiations with Israel should be the next to exert leverage on Israel. So, we should not wait for Israel's acceptance of the Palestinian state, because Israel will never accept it,” she said.

El Sheikh noted that unifying the Palestinian factions is quite essential to unifying the direct authority with which the world will deal after recognizing a Palestinian state, adding that the time has come to appoint a deputy for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, especially amid the presence of Palestinian figures who have support from different Palestinian factions, like the imprisoned Marwan Barghouti. She affirmed that these two tracks should be adopted in parallel.