Law, Power, and Justice

Israel’s devastating response to Hamas’s shocking October 7 attack has produced a humanitarian catastrophe.

But the idea of a Palestinian state emerging from the rubble of Gaza has no basis in reality. Long before October 7, it was clear that the basic elements needed for a two-state solution no longer existed. Israel had elected a right-wing government that included officials who were openly opposed to two states. The Palestinian leadership recognized by the West—the Palestinian Authority (PA)—had become deeply unpopular among Palestinians. And Israeli settlements had grown to the extent that creating a viable, contiguous Palestinian state had become almost impossible. For nearly a quarter century, there had also been no serious Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and no major constituency in Israeli politics supported resuming them. Hamas’s shocking attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent months-long obliteration of Gaza have only exacerbated and accelerated those trends.

Israel’s politicians bear most of the responsibility for this grim reality as it developed over decades, aided by weak Palestinian leaders and indifferent Arab governments. But no external party shares more blame than the United States, which has enabled and defended the most right-wing government in Israel’s history. The Biden administration cannot create peace just by calling for it.

The Gaza Strip came under Egyptian control during the 1948 war, when the state of Israel was established. In 1967, Israel conquered Gaza, along with the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. Over the next 26 years, Israel directly governed the small, densely packed strip, introducing Jewish settlements as it did in the other territories it captured. In 1993, following the Oslo accords, Israel handed over some daily management of Gaza to the PA but retained effective domination with a permanent military presence, control over its land perimeter and airspace, and oversight of its finances and tax revenues.

Israelis had soured on a two-state solution long before October 7. Over the past decade, the Israeli peace camp, represented by the Meretz Party, had declined electorally to the point of near elimination; in 2022, it failed to cross the electoral threshold for Knesset representation. The current Israeli government had all but disavowed a two-state outcome and included right-wing members who openly aspired to full annexation of Gaza and the West Bank. October 7 accelerated the trend. The Israeli public has overwhelmingly lost what little faith remained in a two-state outcome, as a settler movement intent on dominating all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea has relentlessly risen to power.

Recent polling shows that there is still some support for a two-state solution among the Palestinians but virtually no confidence in the United States to deliver 

— Read on www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/two-state-mirage-gaza-palestinians-lynch