What the Two-State Solution for Israelis, Palestinians Means

The notion that Israelis and Palestinians can share the Holy Land living in separate, independent nations fueled on-and-off peace talks for more than 20 years. But the latest round foundered in 2014. In recent years, Israel has focused on making peace with Arab states, leaving the Palestinians with limited self-rule under the ultimate control of Israel. The Palestinian-Israeli violence that broke out in October challenged the idea that the status quo was sustainable, reviving calls by, among others, US President Joe Biden, for a so-called two-state solution to the conflict between the two peoples. That option, however, is hardly popular on either side.

Part of the Ottoman Empire from 1517, the Holy Land came under British governance when World War I victors divided control over the losers’ territory. The two-state solution dates to the 1937 Peel Commission, which recommended partitioning what was then called British Mandatory Palestine to stop Arab-Jewish violence. The United Nations embraced a different partition plan in 1947, but the Arabs rejected both, leading to Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948 and the first Arab-Israeli war. That period produced an estimated 700,000 Palestinian refugees. In a 1967 war, Israel captured, among other Arab territories, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, putting residents under military occupation and fanning Palestinian nationalism. After a Palestinian uprising that began in 1987 claimed more than 1,200 Palestinian and 200 Israeli lives, secret negotiations produced the landmark 1993 Oslo accords. As an interim measure, Palestinians gained limited self-rule under an entity called the Palestinian Authority.