It has been 64 years since the United Nations General Assembly approved the
Partition Plan for Palestine and the struggle to implement a “two-state
solution” began. Today we are no closer to that end.
It reminds me
of that definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results. By that definition, everyone who continues to cling
to the delusion of a two-state solution is insane. There is no such thing as a
two-state solution. It cannot work, it has not worked, and it will not
work.
The only viable solution for the Middle East is a one-state
solution: one, contiguous Israeli state from the Jordan River to the
Mediterranean Sea. There will not and cannot be lasting peace in the Middle East
until then.
Ever since the Palestinians and Arab countries refused to
accept the Mandate for Palestine, the original two-state solution, the
international community has been catering to Palestinian and Arab demands for a
divided Israel. The Palestinians and Arabs, however, have repeatedly
rejected these proposals, including the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for
Palestine, which they now are using to justify their demands for a divided
Israel. Enough is enough.
Why is the international community continuing
to kowtow to these demands, when for 64 years the Palestinians and the Arabs
have actively worked against peace? Israel is the only country in the region
that has shown that it wants and will work toward peace. Since 1947, the
Palestinian and Arab countries have fought more than five wars against Israel
over territory, and each opportunity a victorious Israel returned land it
acquired in exchange for peace.
The Palestinians have broken their word
again and again. They continue to intentionally fire rockets at innocent Israeli
families and children, and they have betrayed the fundamental tenet of the
two-state solution they tout by cutting Israel out of negotiations and going
directly to the United Nations.
Moreover, the Palestinian Authority
continues to incite violence against Israelis. It pays the salaries of
imprisoned terrorists convicted of killing Israelis and glorifies suicide
bombers at public events. The PA’s magazine Zayzafuna recently presented Hitler
as a role model for the Palestinian youth on account of all the Jews he had
killed.
Most importantly, how can a people divided between radically
different and violently opposed factions possibly govern a single state
overnight? Right now, the Palestinians are divided between Hamas in the Gaza
Strip and Fatah in the West Bank. These factions fought a civil war no more than
5 years ago and are fundamentally irreconcilable. Who will then govern a unified
Palestinian state?
The two-state solution can never work when one of those
states, the Palestinian state, does not even acknowledge the other state’s
(Israel's) very right to exist and has as its entire purpose to wipe Israel off
the face of the earth. Never will peace come when one side possesses such hate
and routinely expresses that hate through violence and blood.
It is time
to let go of the two-state solution insanity and adopt the only solution that
will bring true peace to the Middle East – a single Israeli state from the
Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Israel is the only country in the region
dedicated to peace and the only power capable of stable, just and democratic
government in the region.
This solution is the best one for everyone,
especially the Palestinians. They will trade their two corrupt and inept
governments and societies for a stable, free and prosperous one. Those
Palestinians that wish to may leave their Fatah and Hamas-created slums and move
to the original Palestinian state – Jordan. The British Mandate for Palestine
created Jordan as the country for the Palestinians. It was the only
justification for its creation. Even now, 75 percent of its population is
of Palestinian descent. Those Palestinians that remain behind in Israel will
maintain limited voting power, but will be awarded all the economic and civil
rights of Israeli citizens. They will be free to raise a family, start a
business and live in peace, all of which are impossible under Arab
rule.
The two-state solution has failed. Only a one state solution – a
single, undivided Israel – will bring peace, security, and prosperity to
Israelis and Palestinians alike. It’s time for the United States to lead on
this. For over 60 years, peace has been the goal, common sense and basic human
morality have been ignored, and peace has not come. We’ve had it
backwards all these years: the goal should not be peace at all costs. The goal
should be a strong, free and prosperous Israel. The United States should not be
some honest broker between two sides but rather publicly stand with one side –
Israel. Then, and only then, will real peace truly come.
The
writer is a US congressman from Illinois and a member of the Congressional
Israel Allies Caucus.