View source for One-state solution

{{Short description|Proposed resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}
{{hatnote|"Binationalism" and "Binational state" redirect here. For Gaddafi's proposed state, see [[Isratin]]. For uses outside the Israeli–Palestinian context, see [[Two Nations theory (disambiguation)|Two Nations theory]], [[Multinational state]] and [[Consociationalism]].}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Israel-Palestinian peace process|Proposals}}

The '''one-state solution''' is a proposed approach to the [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process]]. It stipulates the establishment of a single state within the boundaries of the former [[Mandatory Palestine]], today consisting of the combined territory of modern-day [[Israel]] (excluding the [[Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights|annexed Golan Heights]]) and [[Palestine]].<ref name="isratin2009">{{cite news |last=Qadaffi |first=Muammar |author-link=Muammar Gaddafi |date=21 January 2009 |title=The One-State Solution |page=A33 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22qaddafi.html?ref=opinion |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=22 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514145500/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22qaddafi.html?ref=opinion |archive-date=14 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="Onestateor">{{Cite web |last=Friedson |first=Felice |date=21 July 2010 |title=One-state or two-state solution |url=https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/one-state-or-two-state-solution |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en-US}}</ref> The term '''one-state reality''' describes the belief that the current situation of the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] on the ground is that of one {{Lang|la|de facto}} country.<ref name="Nast 2014">{{Cite magazine |last=Remnick |first=David |date=2014-11-10 |title=The One-State Reality |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/17/one-state-reality |access-date=2023-05-21 |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> The one-state solution is sometimes referred to as the '''bi-national state''', owing to the hope that it would successfully deliver self-determination to [[Israelis]] and [[Palestinians]] in one country, thus granting both peoples independence as well as absolute access to all of the land.

Various models have been proposed for implementing the one-state solution.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Sharvit Baruch |first=Pnina |date=2021 |title=Resolving the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict: The Viability of One-State Models |url=https://www.inss.org.il/publication/one-state-models/ |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=www.inss.org.il |publisher=[[Institute for National Security Studies (Israel)|INSS]] |edition=Memorandum No. 217}}</ref> 

* One such model is the [[unitary state]], which would comprise a single government with citizenship and equal rights for every ethnic and religious group in the land,<ref name=":0" /> similar to the legal arrangement of the [[Mandate for Palestine|British Mandate for Palestine]]. Some Israelis advocate a version of this model in which [[Proposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank|Israel annexes the West Bank]] (but not the Gaza Strip) and grants Israeli citizenship to all of the Palestinians living there, thereby integrating the region and gaining a larger [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arab minority]], but remaining a [[Jewish and democratic state]].<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last=Al Shawaf |first=Rayyan |date=3 April 2014 |title=Caroline Glick's one-state solution for Israel-Palestine asks all the wrong questions |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/caroline-glick-s-one-state-solution-for-israel-palestine-asks-all-the-wrong-questions-1.685514 |website=The National}}</ref> 
* A second model calls for Israel to annex the West Bank and integrate it as a Palestinian autonomous region.<ref name=":0" />&nbsp;
* A third model involves creating a [[Federation|federal state]] with a central government and federative districts, some of which would be Israeli and others Palestinian.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Federation Plan: The Founding Document |url=https://www.federation.org.il/index.php/en/the-federation-plan |access-date=6 June 2022 |website=www.federation.org.il}}</ref> 
* A fourth model, described by the Israeli–Palestinian peace movement [[A Land for All (organization)|A Land for All]], involves the establishment of a [[confederation]] in which independent Israeli and Palestinian states share powers in some areas, and giving Israelis and Palestinians residency rights in each other's states.<ref name="landforall">{{Cite web |date=19 April 2019 |title=A Land For All |url=https://www.alandforall.org/english/ }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Scheindlin |first=Dahlia |date=29 June 2018 |title=An Israeli–Palestinian Confederation Can Work |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/29/an-israeli-palestinian-confederation-can-work/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426104648/https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/29/an-israeli-palestinian-confederation-can-work/ |archive-date=26 April 2024 |access-date=6 June 2022 |website=[[Foreign Policy]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

Though increasingly debated in academic circles, the one-state solution has remained outside the range of official diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, as it has historically been eclipsed by the [[two-state solution]]. According to the most recent joint survey of the Palestinian–Israeli Pulse in 2023, support for a democratic one-state solution stands at 23% among Palestinians and 20% among [[Israeli Jews]]. A non-equal non-democratic one-state solution remains more popular among both populations, supported by 30% of Palestinians and 37% of Israeli Jews.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=24 January 2023 |title=The Palestine/Israel Pulse, a Joint Poll, 2022 |url=https://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/928 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241109042512/https://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/928 |archive-date=9 November 2024 |access-date=11 December 2023 |website=[[Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research]] |language=en}}</ref> A Palestinian poll in September 2024 revealed that only 10% of respondents supported a single state that would provide equal rights for both Israelis and Palestinians.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 October 2024 |title=Has the war in Gaza radicalised young Palestinians? |url=https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/10/03/has-the-war-in-gaza-radicalised-young-palestinians |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241107084019/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/10/03/has-the-war-in-gaza-radicalised-young-palestinians |archive-date=7 November 2024 |access-date=5 October 2024 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

==Overview==
[[File:Map of Israel, neighbours and occupied territories-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Map of Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the [[Golan Heights]] ]]
The "one-state solution" refers to a resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through the creation of a unitary, federal or confederate Israeli–Palestinian state, which would encompass all of the present territory of [[Israel]], the [[West Bank]] including [[East Jerusalem]], and potentially the [[Gaza Strip]] and [[Golan Heights]]. Depending on various points of view, a one-state solution is presented as a situation in which Israel would ostensibly lose its character as a [[Jewish state]] and the [[Palestinians]] would fail to achieve their national independence within a [[two-state solution]],<ref name="reut2004">{{cite web |url=http://www.reut-institute.org/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=346 |title=One state threat |year =2004 |publisher=Reut Institute |access-date=25 January 2011}}</ref> or as the best, most just, and only way to resolve the conflict.

==Historical background==
===Antiquity until World War I===
{{main|Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}
The area between the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and the [[Jordan River]] has been controlled by various national groups throughout history. A number of groups, including the [[Canaanites]], the [[Israelites]] (who later became the [[Jews]]),<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jew-people "Jew."] ''Encyclopedia Britannica''. 30 July 2019. 5 August 2019.</ref> the [[Babylonians]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]], [[Greeks]], [[Hasmoneans|Jews]], [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]], [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]], [[Abbasids]], [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk Turks]], [[Crusaders]], [[Mamluks]], [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]], the [[United Kingdom|British]], [[Israelis]], [[Jordanians]], and [[Egyptians]] have controlled the region at one time or another. From 1516 until the end of [[World War I]], the region was controlled by the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Ismail |first=Rashid |title=Palestine |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-45065/Palestine |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=12 April 2016}}</ref>

===Ottoman and later British control===
From 1915 to 1916, the [[United Kingdom|British]] High Commissioner in [[Egypt]], [[Sir Henry McMahon]], corresponded by letters with [[Sayyid Hussein bin Ali]], the father of [[Pan Arabism]]. These letters were later known as the [[Hussein–McMahon Correspondence]]. McMahon promised Hussein and his [[Arab]] followers the territory of the Ottoman Empire in exchange for assistance in driving out the [[Ottoman Turks]]. Hussein interpreted these letters as promising the region of Palestine to the Arabs. McMahon and the [[Churchill White Paper]] maintained that Palestine had been excluded from the territorial promises,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_X5tAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22I+feel+it+my+duty+to+state%2C+and+I+do+so+definitely+and+emphatically%2C+that+it+was+not+intended+by+me+in+giving+this+pledge+to+King+Hussein+to+include+Palestine+in+the+area+in+which+Arab+independence+was+promised.%22&pg=PA40 "The Jewish National Home in ...."] ''Google Books''. 4 May 2022.</ref> but minutes of a Cabinet Eastern Committee meeting held on 5 December 1918 confirmed that Palestine had been part of the area that had been pledged to Hussein in 1915.<ref>UK National Archives, PRO CAB 27/24, reprinted in 'Palestine Papers, 1917–1922', by Doreen Ingrams, George Braziller Edition, 1973, page 48.</ref>

In 1916, Britain and [[France]] signed the [[Sykes–Picot Agreement]], which divided the colonies of the Ottoman Empire between them. Under this agreement, the region of Palestine would be controlled by Britain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/sykes.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=The Sykes-Picot Agreement: 1916 |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref> In a 1917 letter from [[Arthur James Balfour]] to [[Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild|Lord Rothschild]], known as the [[Balfour Declaration]], the [[British government]] promised "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people", but at the same time required "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".<ref name=balfourdeclarationof1917>{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/balfour.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=Balfour Declaration 1917 |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref>

In 1922, the [[League of Nations]] granted Britain a mandate for Palestine. Like all [[League of Nations Mandate]]s, this mandate derived from article 22 of the [[League of Nations Covenant]], which called for the self-determination of former Ottoman Empire colonies after a transitory period administered by a world power.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=The Covenant of the League of Nations |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref> The [[Mandate for Palestine|Palestine Mandate]] recognized the [[Balfour Declaration]] and required that the mandatory government "facilitate Jewish immigration" while at the same time "ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/palmanda.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=The Palestine Mandate |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref>

Resentment over Zionist plans led to an outbreak of Arab-Jewish violence in the [[Palestine Riots of 1920]]. Violence erupted again the following year during the [[Jaffa Riots]]. In response to these riots, Britain established the [[Haycraft Commission of Inquiry]]. The British Mandatory authorities put forward proposals for setting up an elected legislative council in Palestine. In 1924 the issue was raised at a conference held by [[Ahdut Ha'avodah]] at [[Ein Harod]]. [[Shlomo Kaplansky]], a veteran leader of [[Poalei Zion]], argued that a [[Parliament]], even with an Arab majority, was the way forward. [[David Ben-Gurion]], the emerging leader of the [[Yishuv]], succeeded in getting Kaplansky's ideas rejected.<ref>Teveth, Shabtai (1985) ''Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs: From Peace to War''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-503562-3}}. Pages 66–70</ref> Violence erupted again in the form of the [[1929 Palestine riots]]. After the violence, the British led another commission of inquiry under [[Walter Shaw (judge)|Sir Walter Shaw]]. The report of the [[Shaw Commission]], known as the [[Shaw Report]] or [[Command Paper No 3530]], attributed the violence to "the twofold fear of the Arabs that, by Jewish immigration and land purchase, they might be deprived of their livelihood and, in time, pass under the political domination of the Jews".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/3d14c9e5cdaa296d85256cbf005aa3eb/5f21f8a1ca578a57052566120067f658!OpenDocument |title=Mandate for Palestine - Minutes of the Permanent Mandates Commission/LoN 17th (Extraordinary) session (21 June 1930) |access-date=9 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508061212/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/3d14c9e5cdaa296d85256cbf005aa3eb/5f21f8a1ca578a57052566120067f658%21OpenDocument |archive-date=8 May 2008 }}</ref>

[[File:UNGA 181 Map.png|thumb|right|How UN members voted on Palestine's partition in 1947{{legend|#339933|In favour}} {{legend|#e0e36f|Abstained}} {{legend|#813a3a|Against}} {{legend|#d64b56|Absent}}]]
Violence erupted again during the [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine]]. The British established the [[Peel Commission of 1936–1937]] in order to put an end to the violence. The Peel Commission concluded that only partition could put an end to the violence, and proposed the [[Peel Partition Plan]]. While the Jewish community accepted the concept of partition, not all members endorsed the implementation proposed by the Peel Commission. The Arab community entirely rejected the Peel Partition Plan, which included population transfers, primarily of Arabs. The partition plan was abandoned, and in 1939 Britain issued its [[White Paper of 1939]] clarifying its "unequivocal" position that "it is not part of [Britain's] policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State" and that "The independent State [of Palestine] should be one in which Arabs and Jews share government in such a way as to ensure that the essential interests of each community are safeguarded."

The White Paper of 1939 sought to accommodate Arab demands regarding Jewish immigration by placing a quota of 10,000 Jewish immigrants per year over a five-year period from 1939 to 1944. It also required Arab consent for further Jewish immigration. The White Paper was seen by the Jewish community as a revocation of the [[Balfour Declaration]], and due to Jewish persecution in [[the Holocaust]], Jews continued to immigrate illegally in what has become known as [[Aliyah Bet]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/brwh1939.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=British White Paper of 1939 |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref>

Continued violence and the heavy cost of [[World War II]] prompted Britain to turn over the issue of Palestine to the [[United Nations]] in 1947. In its debates, the UN divided its member States into two subcommittees: one to address options for partition and a second to address all other options. The Second Subcommittee, which included all the Arab and Muslim States members, issued a long report arguing that partition was illegal according to the terms of the Mandate and proposing a unitary democratic state that would protect rights of all citizens equally.<ref>A/AC. 14/32 and Add. I of 11 November 1947. See full text in Walid Khalidi, ''From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem until 1948'' (Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1987), #63 "Binationalism Not Partition", pp. 645–701.</ref> The General Assembly instead voted for partition and in [[UN General Assembly Resolution 181]] recommended that the Mandate territory of Palestine be partitioned into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jewish community accepted the 1947 partition plan, and declared independence as the State of Israel in 1948. The Arab community rejected the partition plan, and army units from five Arab countries – [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], [[Iraq]], [[Jordan|Transjordan]], and Egypt – contributed to a united Arab army that attempted to invade the territory, resulting in the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]].

===Establishment of Israel===
The [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] resulted in Israel's establishment as well as the [[1948 Palestinian exodus|flight or expulsion]] of over 700,000 Palestinians from the territory that became Israel. During the following years, a large population of Jews living in Arab nations (close to 800,000) left or were expelled from their homes in what has become known as the [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands|Modern Jewish Exodus]] and subsequently resettled in the new State of Israel.

By 1948, in the wake of the Holocaust, Jewish support for partition and a Jewish state had become overwhelming. Nevertheless, some Jewish voices still argued for unification. The [[International Jewish Labor Bund]] was against the UN vote on the partition of Palestine and reaffirmed its support for a single binational state that would guarantee equal national rights for Jews and Arabs and would be under the control of superpowers and the UN. The 1948 New York Second world conference of the International Jewish Labor Bund condemned the proclamation of the Jewish state, because the decision exposed the Jews in Palestine to danger. The conference was in favour of a binational state built on the base of national equality and democratic federalism.<ref name="grabsky">{{cite web |url=http://www.workersliberty.org/node/4655|title=The Anti-Zionism of the Bund (1947–1972)|last=Grabsky|first=August|date=10 August 2005|publisher=Workers' Liberty |access-date=2009-11-10}}</ref>

A one-state, one-nation solution where Arabic-speaking Palestinians would adopt a Hebrew-speaking Israeli identity (although not necessarily the Jewish religion) was advocated within Israel by the [[Canaanites (movement)|Canaanite movement]] of the 1940s and 1950s, as well as more recently in the Engagement Movement led by [[Tsvi Misinai]].

===Palestinian views on a binational state===
Prior to the 1960s, no solution to the conflict in which Arabs and Jews would share a binational state was accepted among Palestinians. The only viable solution from the Palestinian point of view would be an Arab state in which European immigrants would have second-class status. The Palestinian position evolved following Israel's victory in the [[Six-Day War]], when it became no longer realistic to expect the militarily powerful and densely populated Jewish state to disappear. Eventually, Palestinian leadership committed to the idea of a two-state solution.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mondediplo.com/2010/10/03binationalism |title=A history of conflict between opposing ideals |website=Le Monde diplomatique |date=2010-09-30 |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref> But according to a poll taken by the Palestine Center for Public Opinion in 2020, around 10% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza believe that working towards a binational state should be a top priority.<ref>Pollock, David. [https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/palestinian-majority-rejects-two-state-solution-backs-tactical-compromises "Palestinian Majority Rejects Two-State Solution, But Backs Tactical Compromises."] ''[[The Washington Institute for Near East Policy]]''. 25 February 2020. 9 June 2021.</ref>

==One-state debate since 2009==
A poll conducted in 2010 by [[Israel Democracy Institute]] suggested that 15% of right-wing Jewish Israelis and 16% of left-wing Jewish Israelis support a binational state solution over a two states solution based on [[Green Line (Israel)|1967 lines]]. According to the same poll, 66% of Jewish Israelis preferred the two-state solution.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peaceindex.org/indexMonthEng.aspx?mark1=&mark2=&num=52 |title=The Peace Index: March 2010 |publisher=The Israel Democracy Institute |access-date=4 February 2012}}</ref>

Some Israeli government spokespeople have also proposed that Palestinian-majority areas of Israel, such as the area around [[Umm el-Fahm]], be annexed to the new Palestinian state. As this measure would cut these areas off permanently from the rest of Israel's territory, including the coastal cities and other Palestinian towns and villages, Palestinians view this with alarm. Many Palestinian citizens of Israel would therefore prefer a one-state solution because this would allow them to sustain their Israeli citizenship.<ref name=nchala2006>{{cite web |url=http://reut-institute.org/data/uploads/PDFVer/ENG.pdf |title=Palestinians in Israel |year=2006 |work=The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel |publisher=Reut Institute |access-date=25 January 2011}}</ref>

Some Israeli Jews and Palestinians who oppose a one-state solution have nevertheless come to believe that it may come to pass.<ref name=reut2004/> Israeli Prime Minister Olmert argued, in a 2007 interview with the Israeli daily ''[[Ha'aretz]]'', that without a two-state agreement Israel would face "a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights" in which case "Israel [would be] finished".<ref name=haaretz2007>{{cite web |last=Ravid |first=Barak |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/olmert-to-haaretz-two-state-solution-or-israel-is-done-for-1.234201 |title=Olmert to Haaretz: Two-state solution, or Israel is done for |website=Haaretz |date=2007-11-29 |access-date=2017-06-06 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606210531/http://www.haaretz.com/news/olmert-to-haaretz-two-state-solution-or-israel-is-done-for-1.234201 |archive-date=2017-06-06 }}</ref> This echoes comments made in 2004 by Palestinian Prime Minister [[Ahmed Qurei]], who said that if Israel failed to conclude an agreement with the Palestinians, that the Palestinians would pursue a single, bi-national state.<ref name=bbc2004>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3381493.stm |work=BBC News |title=Palestinian PM's 'one state' call |date=9 January 2004 |access-date=5 May 2010}}</ref> In November 2009, Palestinian negotiator [[Saeb Erekat]] proposed the adoption of the one-state solution if Israel did not halt settlement construction: "[Palestinians must] refocus their attention on the one-state solution where Muslims, Christians and Jews can live as equals. ... It is very serious. This is the moment of truth for us."<ref name=saeb2009>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL4593611 |author=Mohammed Assadi |title=Palestinian state may have to be abandoned – Erekat|work=Reuters|access-date=25 January 2011 |date=4 November 2009}}</ref>

Support for a one-state solution is increasing{{when|date=March 2022}} as Palestinians, frustrated by lack of progress in negotiations aiming to establish the two-state solution, increasingly see the one-state solution as an alternative way forward.<ref name="SHABI1">{{Cite news |last=Shabi |first=Rachel |date=2012-10-23 |title=The death of the Israel-Palestine two-state solution brings fresh hope |language=en-GB |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/23/israel-palestine-two-state-solution |access-date=2023-05-21 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="POORT1">{{Cite news |last=Poort |first=David |date=26 January 2011 |title=The threat of a one-state solution |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2011/1/26/the-threat-of-a-one-state-solution |access-date=2023-05-21 |work=[[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] |language=en}}</ref> In 2016, then-U.S. Vice President [[Joe Biden]] said that due to expanding [[Israeli settlers|settlements]], an eventual "one-state reality" was the most likely outcome.<ref name=wp-20160419>{{cite news |author1=Josh Lederman |title=Biden: 'Overwhelming frustration' with Israeli gov't |url=https://apnews.com/united-states-government-e5c04516ee3c40d9800768573e2f7a8e |work=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=14 May 2024 |date=19 April 2016}}</ref>

In a 2021 survey of experts on the Middle East, 59 percent described the current situation as "a one-state reality akin to [[apartheid]]" and an additional 7 percent "one-state reality with inequality, but not akin to apartheid". If a two-state solution is not achieved, 77 percent predict "a one-state reality akin to apartheid" and 17 percent "one-state reality with increasing inequality, but not akin to apartheid"; just 1 percent think a binational state with equal rights for all inhabitants is likely. 52 percent say that the two-state solution is no longer possible.<ref name=brookings>{{cite news |last=Telhami |first=Marc Lynch and Shibley |title=Biden says he will listen to experts. Here is what scholars of the Middle East think. |url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/02/19/biden-says-he-will-listen-to-experts-here-is-what-scholars-of-the-middle-east-think/ |access-date=19 March 2022 |work=Brookings |date=19 February 2021}}</ref>

==Arguments for and against==
===In favor===
Today, the proponents for the one-state solution include Palestinian author [[Ali Abunimah]], Palestinian writer and political scientist Abdalhadi Alijla, Palestinian-American producer [[Jamal Dajani]], Palestinian lawyer [[Michael Tarazi]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/sovereign/sover/emerg/2004/1004onetwo.htm |title=Two Peoples, One State - Nations & States - Global Policy Forum |access-date=17 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020020059/http://www.globalpolicy.org///nations/sovereign/sover/emerg/2004/1004onetwo.htm |archive-date=20 October 2008}}</ref> American-Israeli anthropologist [[Jeff Halper]], Israeli writer Dan Gavron,<ref>{{cite web |last=Hirschberg |first=Peter |date=16 December 2003 |title=One state awakening |url=http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID%3D4693 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080307144349/http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=4693 |archive-date=7 March 2008 |access-date=17 October 2009}}</ref> Lebanese-American academic [[Saree Makdisi]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-makdisi11-2008may11,0,7862060.story |work=Los Angeles Times |title=Forget the two-state solution |first=Saree |last=Makdisi |date=11 May 2008 |access-date=5 May 2010}}</ref> and Israeli journalist [[Gideon Levy]].<ref name=whos-afraid>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.571863 |author=Gideon Levy |title=Who's afraid of a binational state? |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |date=2 February 2014 |access-date=17 September 2014}}</ref><ref name="Al Gathafi 2003">{{Cite web |last=Al Gathafi |first=Muammar |title=White Book (ISRATIN) |year=2003 |url=http://www.algathafi.org/html-english/cat_03_03.htm |access-date=2008-04-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415223111/http://www.algathafi.org/html-english/cat_03_03.htm |archive-date=2008-04-15}}</ref> In an [[op-ed]] for ''[[The New York Times]]'' in 2004, Tarazi opined that the expansion of the Israeli settler movement, especially in the West Bank, was a rationale for bi-nationalism and the increased infeasibility of the two-state alternative: <blockquote>"Support for one state is hardly a radical idea; it is simply the recognition of the uncomfortable reality that Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories already function as a single state. They share the same aquifers, the same highway network, the same electricity grid and the same international borders... The one-state solution... neither destroys the Jewish character of the Holy Land nor negates the Jewish historical and religious attachment (although it would destroy the superior status of Jews in that state). Rather, it affirms that the Holy Land has an equal Christian and Muslim character. For those who believe in equality, this is a good thing."<ref name=tarazi>{{cite news |url =https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/opinion/04tarazi.html |author=Michael Tarazi |title=Two Peoples, One State|work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=25 January 2011 |date=4 October 2004}}</ref></blockquote> Advocates of this solution push for a secular and democratic state while still maintaining a Jewish presence and culture in the region.<ref name="haifa2007">{{cite web|url=http://www.mada-research.org/UserFiles/file/haifaenglish.pdf |title=Haifa Declaration |year=2007 |publisher=Arab Center for Applied Social Research |access-date=25 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303181624/http://www.mada-research.org/UserFiles/file/haifaenglish.pdf |archive-date=3 March 2011}}</ref> They concede that this alternative will erode the dream of Jewish supremacy in terms of governance in the long run.<ref name="haifa2007" />

[[Hamas]] has at times ruled out a two-state solution, and at other times endorsed the possibility of a two-state solution.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Hamas: We Won't Accept Two-state Solution |language=en |work=[[Haaretz]] |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2009-05-09/ty-article/hamas-we-wont-accept-two-state-solution/0000017f-ece9-dc91-a17f-fcedea620000 |access-date=2023-05-21}}</ref><ref name="offer 2009">{{cite news |last=Segev |first=Yoav |date=22 September 2009 |title=Haniyeh to UN chief: Hamas accepts Palestinian state in '67 borders |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/haniyeh-to-un-chief-hamas-accepts-palestinian-state-in-67-borders-1.7460 |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref> Hamas co-founder [[Mahmoud Al-Zahar]] has been cited saying he "did not rule out the possibility of having Jews, Muslims and Christians living under the sovereignty of an Islamic state."<ref name="xinhuanet.com">{{cite web |title=Hamas leader urges int'l community to respect Palestinian people's choice |publisher=[[Xinhua]] |date=2 April 2006 |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/02/content_4373348.htm |access-date=17 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805082725/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/02/content_4373348.htm |archive-date=5 August 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]], for its part, rejects a two-state solution; its leader Khalid al-Batsh stated that "The idea cannot be accepted and we believe that the entire Palestine is Arab and Islamic land and belongs to the Palestinian nation."<ref>[http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=52405 "Islamic Jihad Leader Rejects Two-State Solution to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,"] IMRA (16 May 2011). Retrieved 2013-12-17.</ref>

In 2003, Libyan leader [[Muammar al-Gaddafi]] proposed a one-state solution known as the [[Isratin|''Isratin'' proposal]].<ref name="isratin2009" /> Iranian supreme leader [[Ali Khamenei]] and former president [[Ebrahim Raisi]] both expressed their support for a one-state solution, in which Palestine would become the sole legitimate government of Israel.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-10-02 |title=Iran rejects two-state solution for Palestine |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2011/10/2/iran-rejects-two-state-solution-for-palestine |website=Al Jazeera}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-11-12 |title=Iran opposes two-state solution for Palestine, calls for 'democratic' solution |url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231112-iran-opposes-two-state-solution-for-palestine-calls-for-democratic-solution/ |access-date=2024-04-14 |work=[[Middle East Monitor]]}}</ref>

====The left====
Since 1999, interest has been renewed in bi-nationalism or a unitary democratic state. That year, Palestinian activist [[Edward Said]] wrote, "[A]fter 50 years of Israeli history, classic Zionism has provided no solution to the Palestinian presence. I therefore see no other way than to begin now to speak about sharing the land that has thrust us together, sharing it in a truly democratic way with equal rights for all citizens."<ref name="Al-Ahram Weekly">[[Edward Said]], "Truth and Reconciliation," ''Al-Ahram Weekly'', 14 January 1999</ref>

In October 2003, New York University scholar [[Tony Judt]] broke ground in his article, "Israel: The Alternative" in the ''[[New York Review of Books]]'', in which he argued that Israel is an "anachronism" in sustaining an ethnic identity for the state and that the two-state solution is fundamentally doomed and unworkable.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Judt |first=Tony |date=23 October 2003 |title=Israel: The Alternative |language=en |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2003/10/23/israel-the-alternative/ |work=[[The New York Review of Books]] |access-date=2023-05-21 |issn=0028-7504}}</ref> The Judt article engendered considerable debate in the UK and the US, and ''The New York Review of Books'' received more than 1,000 letters per week about the essay. A month later, political scientist [[Virginia Tilley]] published "The One-State Solution" in the ''[[London Review of Books]]'' (followed by a book with the same title in 2005), arguing that West Bank settlements had made a two-state solution impossible and that the international community must accept a one-state solution as the ''de facto'' reality.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Tilley |first=Virginia |author-link=Virginia Tilley |date=6 November 2003 |title=The One-State Solution |url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n21/virginia-tilley/the-one-state-solution |journal=[[London Review of Books]] |volume=25 |issue=21 |access-date=16 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Virginia |last=Tilley |url=http://www.press.umich.edu/183676/one_state_solution |title=The One-State Solution |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-03449-9 |date=2005}}</ref>

Leftist journalists from Israel, such as [[Haim Hanegbi]] and Daniel Gavron, have called for the public to "face the facts" and accept the binational solution. On the Palestinian side, similar voices have been raised. Then-Israeli prime minister [[Ehud Olmert]] argued, in a 2007 interview with the Israeli daily ''[[Haaretz]]'', that without a two-state agreement Israel would face "a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights" in which case "Israel [would be] finished".<ref name="haaretz2007" />

[[John Mearsheimer]], co-director of the Programme on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago, says the binational solution has become inevitable. He further argued that by allowing Israel's settlements to prevent the formation of a Palestinian state, the United States has helped Israel commit "national suicide" since Palestinians will be the majority group in the binational state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews%3D54507 |title=Dead Peace Process Could be "National Suicide" for Israel - IPS ipsnews.net |access-date=6 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217205009/http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54507 |archive-date=17 February 2011}}</ref>

[[Rashid Khalidi]] wrote in 2011 that the one-state solution was already a reality, in that "there is only one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, in which there are two or three levels of citizenship or non-citizenship within the borders of that one state that exerts total control." Khalidi further argued that the "peace process" had been extinguished by ongoing Israeli settlement construction, and anyone who still believed it could result in an equitable two-state solution should have their "head examined".<ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/leading-palestinian-intellectual-we-already-have-a-one-state-solution-1.399629 Leading Palestinian intellectual: We already have a one-state solution] (''[[Haaretz]]'', 5 Dec. 2011)</ref>

In 2013, professor [[Ian Lustick]] wrote in ''The New York Times'' that the "fantasy" of a two-state solution prevented people from working on solutions that might really work. Lustick argued that people who assume Israel will persist as a Zionist project should consider how quickly the Soviet, Pahlavi Iranian, apartheid South African, Baathist Iraqi and Yugoslavian states unraveled. Lustick concludes that while it may not arise without "painful stalemates", a one-state solution may be a way to eventual Palestinian independence.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lustick |first=Ian S. |date=2013-09-14 |title=Two-State Illusion |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/opinion/sunday/two-state-illusion.html |url-status=live |url-access=registration |access-date=2023-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122164104/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/opinion/sunday/two-state-illusion.html |archive-date=22 January 2016 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

====The Israeli right====
{{Main|Proposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank}}
[[File:Restricted space in the West Bank, Area C.png|thumb|200px|[[Area C (West Bank)|Area C]] of the West Bank, controlled by Israel, in blue and red, December 2011]]
In recent years, some politicians and political commentators on the right have advocated for annexing the [[West Bank]] and extending Israeli citizenship to its Palestinian residents while maintaining Israel's identity as a [[Jewish state]] with recognized [[minority rights]].  These proposals typically exclude the [[Gaza Strip]], due to its large and generally hostile Palestinian population and its lack of any Israeli settlements or permanent military presence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glick |first=Caroline B. |title=The Israeli solution: a one-state plan for peace in the Middle East |date=2014 |publisher=Crown forum |isbn=978-0-385-34806-5 |location=New York |pages=133–135}}</ref> Prominent political figures who have supported some form of a one-state solution include former defense minister [[Moshe Arens]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Strenger |first=Carlo |title=Strenger than Fiction / Israel should consider a one-state solution |url=http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/strenger-than-fiction-israel-should-consider-a-one-state-solution-1.296976 |access-date=5 February 2014 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |date=18 June 2010}}</ref> former President [[Reuven Rivlin]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Ahren |first=Raphael |title=The newly confident Israeli proponents of a one-state solution |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/at-hebron-conference-proponents-of-the-one-state-solution-show-their-growing-confidence/ |access-date=5 February 2014 |newspaper=[[The Times of Israel]] |date=16 July 2012}}</ref> and [[Uri Ariel]].<ref>{{cite news |title=New housing minister rejects settlement freeze as 'dreadful' idea |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-housing-minister-rejects-settlement-freeze-as-dreadful-idea/ |newspaper=[[Times Of Israel]] |date=17 March 2013 |access-date=19 March 2013}}</ref> 

[[Likud]] MK [[Tzipi Hotovely]] has argued that Jordan was originally intended as the Arab state in the British Mandate of Palestine and has called for Israel to annex the West Bank as part of the historic Land of Israel.<ref>{{cite news |last=Harkov |first=Lahav |url=http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Hotovely-laments-Likud-schizophrenia-on-two-states-324563 |title=Hotovely laments Likud 'schizophrenia' on two states |work=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |date=2013-08-28 |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref> [[Naftali Bennett]], later Prime Minister and a figure in many [[Likud]]-led coalitions, has proposed annexing Area C of the [[West Bank]], which comprises about 60% of the West Bank land and is currently under Israeli control as per the [[Oslo Accords]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Bennett |first=Naftali |date=5 November 2014 |title=for Israel Two-State is No Solution |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/opinion/naftali-bennett-for-israel-two-state-is-no-solution.html?_r=0 |url-status=live |access-date=2016-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129073924/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/opinion/naftali-bennett-for-israel-two-state-is-no-solution.html?_r=0 |archive-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>

Debates over the feasibility of annexation have often included discussions about Palestinian demographics.  According to a [[Begin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies]] (BESA) study,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/MSPS65.pdf |title=The Million Person Gap: The Arab Population in the West Bank and Gaza |access-date=23 December 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172640/http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/MSPS65.pdf |archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref> the 2004 Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza stood at 2.5 million and not the 3.8 million claimed by the Palestinians.  Some commentators, including journalist [[Caroline Glick]] in her 2014 book ''The Israeli Solution'', have questioned the accuracy of population figures provided by the [[Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics]] (PCBS).  Glick argued that earlier surveys overestimated the Palestinian population by including people living abroad, double-counting Jerusalem residents, and projecting birthrates and immigration that did not materialize.  Based on this critique, Glick contended that annexation would not significantly alter Israel’s Jewish majority and could provide a framework for protecting minority rights under a single political system rooted in Jewish values.<ref>Glick, Caroline. ''The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East''. New York: Crown Forum, 2014. pp. 124–33, 155–63.</ref> However, the demographic data from the PCBS are generally supported by Israeli demographers backed by [[Arnon Soffer]] and align closely with official Israeli estimates.  In 2015, [[Sergio DellaPergola]] reported 5,698,500 Arabs living in Israel and the Palestinian territories, compared to a core Jewish population of 6,103,200.<ref>{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Elhanan |date=5 January 2015 |title=Right-wing annexation drive fueled by false demographics, experts say |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/right-wing-annexation-drive-fueled-by-false-demographics-experts-say/ |work=[[Times of Israel]]}}</ref>

===Against===
Critics{{which|date=March 2022}} argue that it would make Israeli Jews an ethnic minority<ref>a b Shenhav, 2006, p. 191.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/02/26/3091851/harvard-to-host-one-state-solution-confab |title=Harvard hosting confab on one-state solution &#124; JTA - Jewish & Israel News |access-date=18 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301091251/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/02/26/3091851/harvard-to-host-one-state-solution-confab |archive-date=1 March 2012}}</ref> in the only Jewish country.{{clarify|reason=The significance of this needs to be explained|date=April 2024}} The high [[total fertility rate]] among Palestinians accompanied by a return of [[Palestinian refugees]], would quickly render Jews a minority, according to [[Sergio DellaPergola]], an Israeli demographer and statistician.<ref>{{cite web|last=[[Sergio DellaPergola]] |title=Demography in Israel/Palestine: Trends, Prospects, Policy Implications |url=http://fc.retecivica.milano.it/rcmweb/rssweb/Israele/Aliyah |publisher=[[Shalom Hartman Institute]] |access-date=22 April 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422221118/http://fc.retecivica.milano.it/rcmweb/rssweb/Israele/Aliyah%20e%20diaspora/Demografia%20e%20sviluppo/S03D0F4A4.0/Demography%20in%20IsraelPalesti.pdf |archive-date=22 April 2016}}{{Dubious |Dubious|date=September 2016}}</ref>

Critics{{which|date=March 2022}} have also argued that Jews, like any other nation, have the right to [[self-determination]], and that due to still existing [[antisemitism]], there is a need for a Jewish national home.<ref>{{cite web|author=Eli E. Hertz |url=http://www.mythsandfacts.com/conflict/mandate_for_palestine/mandate_for_palestine.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102043649/http://www.mythsandfacts.com/Conflict/mandate_for_palestine/mandate_for_palestine.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2 January 2007 |title=Mandate For Palestine - The Legal Aspects of Jewish Rights |publisher=Mythsandfacts.com |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jcpa.org/text/Israel60_Gavison.pdf |title=The Right of Jews to Statehood |first=Ruth |last=Gavison |website=Jcpa.org |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref>

The [[Reut Institute]] expands on these concerns of many Israeli Jews and says that a one-state scenario without any institutional safeguards would negate Israel's status as a homeland for the Jewish people.<ref name=reut2004/> When proposed as a political solution by non-Israelis, the assumption is that the idea is probably being put forward by those who are politically motivated to harm Israel and, by extension, Israeli Jews.<ref name=reut2004/> They argue that the absorption of millions of Palestinians, along with a right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the generally high birthrate among Palestinians would quickly render Jews an ethnic minority and eliminate their rights to self-determination.<ref name=reut2004/>

Israeli historian and politician [[Shlomo Ben-Ami]], who served as Foreign Minister of Israel, dismissed the one-state solution as "[[ivory tower]] nonsense" and said that it creates a "South Africa situation without a South Africa solution."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tarnopolsky |first=Noga |date=3 August 2020 |title=Peter Beinart ignores an inconvenient truth: Israelis and Palestinians haven't given up on a two-state solution |url=https://www.jta.org/2020/08/03/opinion/peter-beinart-ignores-an-inconvenient-truth-israelis-and-palestinians-havent-given-up-on-a-two-state-solution}}</ref>

In an interview with [[Jeffrey Goldberg]], [[Hussein Ibish]] claimed that it is not realistic for Israel to be compelled to accept a binational solution with full right of return for refugees through international pressure or sanctions. According to Ibish, if a one state solution was to happen, it would come as a result of the status quo continuing, and the result would be a protracted civil war, with each intifada more violent than the last, and the conflict growing more and more religious in nature. Ibish speculated that in such a scenario, it could even go beyond an ethno-national war between Israelis and Palestinians into a religious war between Jews and Muslims, with Israeli Jews ending up under siege and relying on their nuclear weapons for protection.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2009/11/hussein-ibish-on-the-fantasy-world-of-one-staters/29425/ |title=Hussein Ibish on the Fantasy World of One-Staters |first=Jeffrey |last=Goldberg |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |date=3 November 2009}}</ref>

====Academia====
[[New Historian]] [[Benny Morris]] has argued that the one-state solution is not viable because of Arab unwillingness to accept a Jewish national presence in the Middle East.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldberg |first=Jeffrey |date=2009-05-21 |title=No Common Ground |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/books/review/Goldberg-t.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=2023-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403123017/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/books/review/Goldberg-t.html |archive-date=3 April 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Morris argues any such state would be an authoritarian, fundamentalist state with a persecuted Jewish minority, citing the racism and persecution minorities face throughout the Arab and Muslim world, and writing that "Western liberals [...] refuse to recognize that peoples, for good historical, cultural, and social reasons are different and behave differently in similar or identical sets of circumstances." He notes the differences between Israeli Jewish society, which remains largely Westernized and secular, and Palestinian society, which according to Morris is increasingly Islamic and fundamentalist. He pointed to [[Hamas]]' 2007 takeover of Gaza, during which [[Fatah]] prisoners were shot in the knees and thrown off buildings, and the regular [[honor killing]]s of women that permeate Palestinian and Israeli-Arab society, as evidence that Palestinian Muslims have no respect for Western values. He thus claimed that "the mindset and basic values of Israeli Jewish society and Palestinian Muslim society are so different and mutually exclusive as to render a vision of binational statehood tenable only in the most disconnected and unrealistic of minds."{{cn|date=June 2025}}

According to Morris, the goal of a "secular democratic Palestine" was invented to appeal to Westerners, and while a few supporters of the one-state solution may honestly believe in such an outcome, the realities of Palestinian society mean that "the phrase objectively serves merely as camouflage for the goal of a Muslim Arab–dominated polity to replace Israel." Morris argued that should a binational state ever emerge, many Israeli Jews would likely emigrate to escape the "stifling darkness, intolerance, authoritarianism, and insularity of the Arab world and its treatment of minority populations", with only those incapable of finding new host countries to resettle in and Ultra-Orthodox Jews remaining behind.<ref name=morris>Morris, Benny: ''One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict''</ref>{{pn|date=June 2025}}

Some argue that Jews would face the threat of [[genocide]]. Writing on ''[[Arutz Sheva]]'', [[Steven Plaut]] referred to the one-state solution as the "[[Rwandan genocide|Rwanda]] Solution", and wrote that the implementation of a one-state solution in which a Palestinian majority would rule over a Jewish minority would eventually lead to a "new [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]]".<ref>{{cite web | first=Steven | last=Plaut | url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/2614#.Ujd8qcaUQUg | title=One State Solution vs Two-State Solution? | publisher=[[Arutz Sheva]] | date=3 March 2008 | accessdate=2013-12-17}}</ref> Morris argued that while the Palestinians would have few moral inhibitions over the destruction of Israeli-Jewish society through mass murder or expulsion, fear of international intervention would probably stymie such an outcome.<ref name=morris/>

Some critics{{which|date=March 2022}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.israelpolicyforum.org/issue/two-state-solution |title=A Two-State Solution &#124; Israel Policy Forum |access-date=18 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228194607/http://www.israelpolicyforum.org/issue/two-state-solution |archive-date=28 February 2012}}</ref> argue that unification cannot happen without damaging or destroying Israel's democracy. The vast majority of Israeli Jews as well as Israeli [[Druze]], some Israeli [[Bedouin]], many Israeli Christian Arabs and even some non-Bedouin Israeli Muslim Arabs fear the consequences of amalgamation with the mostly Muslim Palestinian population in the occupied territories, which they perceive as more religious and conservative. (All Israeli Druze men and small numbers of Bedouin men serve in the [[Israel Defense Forces]] and there are sometimes rifts between these groups and Palestinians).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/17/israel |work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Tales of Tel Aviv |first=Linda |last=Grant |date=17 March 2004 |access-date=5 May 2010}}</ref> {{Failed verification|date=September 2017}} One poll found that, in a future Palestinian state, 23% of Palestinians want civil law only, 35% want both Islamic and civil law, and 38% want Islamic law only.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcrd-pal.org/opinion_polls.php?pid%3D5 |title=Palestinian Center for Research & Cultural Dialogue |access-date=4 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727165917/http://www.pcrd-pal.org/opinion_polls.php?pid=5 |archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref> This negative view of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza prompts some critics to argue that the existing level of rights and equality for all Israeli citizens would be put in jeopardy with unification.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3329865,00.html |title=One-state solution a pipedream |work=[[Ynetnews]] |date=20 June 1995 |access-date=12 April 2016 |last1=Hanania |first1=Ray}}</ref> Benny Morris echoes these claims, arguing that Palestinian Muslims, who would become the ruling majority in any such state, are deeply religious and do not have any tradition of democratic governance.

In response to the common argument given by proponents of the one state solution that Israel's settlements have become so entrenched in the West Bank that a Palestinian state is effectively impossible, scholars such as [[Norman Finkelstein]] and [[Noam Chomsky]] have countered that it is far more unrealistic to expect Israel to accept a one-state solution that would spell the end of Zionism than it is to expect it to dismantle some settlements. [[Nathan Thrall]] has argued that Israel could implement a unilateral withdrawal at any time of its choosing and that the facts on the ground suggest that a single state is a remote possibility, writing that:
{{Blockquote|Israelis and Palestinians are now farther from a single state than they have been at any time since the occupation began in 1967. Walls and fences separate Israel from Gaza and more than 90% of the West Bank. Palestinians have a quasi-state in the occupied territories, with its own parliament, courts, intelligence services and foreign ministry. Israelis no longer shop in Nablus and Gaza the way they did before the Oslo accords. Palestinians no longer travel freely to Tel Aviv. And the supposed reason that partition is often claimed to be impossible – the difficulty of a probable relocation of more than 150,000 settlers – is grossly overstated: in the 1990s, Israel absorbed several times as many Russian immigrants, many of them far more difficult to integrate than settlers, who already have Israeli jobs, fully formed networks of family support and a command of Hebrew.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thrall |first=Nathan |title=Israel-Palestine: the real reason there's still no peace |date=16 May 2017 |work=[[The Guardian]] |issn=0261-3077 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/16/the-real-reason-the-israel-palestine-peace-process-always-fails |access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref>}}

[[Shaul Arieli]] has likewise argued that the settlement enterprise has failed to create the appropriate conditions to prevent a contiguous Palestinian state or to implement the annexation of the West Bank. He has noted that the settlers comprise only 13.5% of the West Bank's population and occupy 4% of its land, and that the settlement enterprise has failed to build up a viable local economic infrastructure. He noted that only about 400 settler households were engaged in agriculture, with the amount of settler-owned farmland comprising only 1.5% of the West Bank. In addition, he wrote that there are only two significant industrial zones in the West Bank settlements, with the vast majority of workers there Palestinian, and that the vast majority of settlers live near the border, in areas that can be annexed by Israel with relative ease in territorial exchanges, while still allowing for the formation of a viable Palestinian state. According to Arieli, 62% of the settler workforce commutes over the Green Line into Israel proper for work while another 25% works in the heavily subsidized education system of the settlements, with only a small percent working in agriculture and industry. About half of the settlements have populations fewer than 1,000 and only 15 have populations greater than 5,000. According to Arieli, the settlement movement has failed to create facts on the ground precluding an Israeli withdrawal, and it is possible to implement a land exchange that would see about 80% of the settlers stay in place, necessitating the evacuation of only about 30,000 settler households, in order to establish a viable and contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank.<ref>{{cite news|title=Look at the figures: Israel's settlement enterprise has failed|newspaper=Haaretz|url=https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-the-settlement-enterprise-has-failed-1.5402018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/some-inconvenient-facts-for-one-state-advocates/ |title=Some inconvenient facts for one-state advocates |work=[[The Times of Israel]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Arieli |first=Shaul |date=26 February 2018 |title=The Israeli Settlement Movement Is Failing |url=https://forward.com/community/395245/the-israeli-settlement-movement-is-failing/ |website=[[The Forward]]}}</ref>

This sentiment has been echoed by Shany Mor, who argued that in 2020, the geographical distribution of settlers in the West Bank had not materially changed since 1993, and that a two-state solution is actually more feasible now than it was in the past due to the disentanglement of the Israeli and Palestinian economies in the 1990s. According to Mor, nearly all the population growth in the settlements between 2005 and 2020 was concentrated in the Haredi settlements of [[Beitar Illit]] and [[Modi'in Illit]], due to their high birth rates.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mor |first=Shany |date=17 September 2020 |title=Peter Beinart's Grotesque Utopia |url=https://en.idi.org.il/articles/32533 |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=en.idi.org.il |language=he}}</ref>

====Journalists====
One major argument against the one-state solution is that it would endanger the safety of the Jewish minority, because it would require assimilation with what critics fear would be an extremely hostile Muslim ruling majority.<ref name=reut2004/> In particular, [[Jeffrey Goldberg]] points to a 2000 ''[[Haaretz]]'' interview with [[Edward Said]], whom he describes as "one of the intellectual fathers of one-statism". When asked whether he thought a Jewish minority would be treated fairly in a binational state, Said replied that "it worries me a great deal. The question of what is going to be the fate of the Jews is very difficult for me. I really don't know."<ref name=Goldberg/>

Imagining what might ensue with unification, some critics<ref>{{cite web |title=A Destructive "Solution" |work=Harvard Political Review |date=28 February 2012 |url=http://hpronline.org/harvard/a-destructive-solution/ |access-date=12 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303090836/http://hpronline.org/harvard/a-destructive-solution/ |archive-date=3 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> of the one-state model believe that rather than ending the Arab–Israeli conflict, it would result in large-scale ethnic violence and possibly civil war, pointing to violence during the British Mandate period, such as in [[1920 Nebi Musa riots|1920]], [[Jaffa riots|1921]], [[1929 Palestine riots|1929]], and [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|1936–39]] as examples. In this view, violence between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews is inevitable and can only be forestalled by partition. These critics also cite the 1937 [[Peel Commission]], which recommended partition as the only means of ending the conflict.<ref>{{cite news |title=Partition of Palestine |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=8 July 1937 |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/israel/Story/0,,980135,00.html |access-date=5 May 2010}}</ref>{{original research inline|date=March 2022}} Critics also cite bi-national arrangements in [[Yugoslavia]], [[Lebanon]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]], [[Cyprus]], and [[Pakistan]], which failed and resulted in further internal conflicts. Similar criticisms appear in ''The Case for Peace''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dershowitz |first=Alan Morton |author-link=Alan Dershowitz |date=2006-04-01 |title=The case for peace: how the Arab-Israeli conflict can be resolved |journal=Choice Reviews Online |volume=43 |issue=8 |pages=43–4915–43-4915 |doi=10.5860/choice.43-4915 |doi-broken-date=1 February 2025 |issn=0009-4978}}</ref>

Left-wing Israeli journalist [[Amos Elon]] argued that while Israel's settlement policy was pushing things in the direction of a one-state solution, should it ever come to pass, "the end result is more likely to resemble [[Zimbabwe]] than post-apartheid South Africa".<ref>{{cite magazine |title= An Alternative Future: An Exchange by Amos Elon |magazine=The New York Review of Books |date=4 December 2003 |last1=Bartov |first1=Omer |last2=Walzer |first2=Michael |last3=Foxman |first3=Abraham H. |last4=Judt |first4=Tony |last5=Elon |first5=Amos |url= http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2003/dec/04/an-alternative-future-an-exchange/?pagination=false|access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref> Echoing these sentiments, Palestinian-American journalist [[Ray Hanania]] wrote that the idea of a single state where Jews, Muslims, and Christians can live side by side is "fundamentally flawed." In addition to the fact that Israel would not support it, Hanania noted that the Arab and Muslim world don't practice it, writing "Exactly where do Jews and Christians live in the Islamic World today side-by-side with equality? We don't even live side-by-side with equality in the Palestinian Diaspora."<ref>{{Cite news |last= Hanania |first=Ray |title=One-state solution a pipedream |date= 19 November 2006 |website= Ynetnews |url= https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3329865,00.html}}</ref>

On the aftermath of any hypothetical implementation of a one-state solution, [[Gershom Gorenberg]] wrote: "Palestinians will demand the return of property lost in 1948 and perhaps the rebuilding of destroyed villages. Except for the drawing of borders, virtually every question that bedevils Israeli–Palestinian peace negotiations will become a domestic problem setting the new political entity aflame.... Two nationalities who have desperately sought a political frame for cultural and social independence would wrestle over control of language, art, street names, and schools." Gorenberg wrote that in the best case, the new state would be paralyzed by endless arguments, and in the worst case, constant disagreements would erupt into violence.<ref name=Goldberg/>

Gorenberg wrote that in addition to many of the problems with the one-state solution described above, the hypothetical state would collapse economically, as the Israeli Jewish intelligentsia would in all likelihood emigrate, writing that "financing development in majority-Palestinian areas and bringing Palestinians into Israel's social welfare network would require Jews to pay higher taxes or receive fewer services. But the engine of the Israeli economy is high-tech, an entirely portable industry. Both individuals and companies will leave." As a result, the new binational state would be financially crippled.<ref name="Goldberg">{{Cite news |last=Goldberg |first=Jeffrey |date=2012-02-28 |title=Anti-Israel One-State Plan Gets Harvard Outlet: Jeffrey Goldberg |language=en |work=Bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2012-02-28/anti-israel-one-state-fix-airs-at-harvard-commentary-by-jeffrey-goldberg |access-date=2023-05-21}}</ref>

==Public opinion==
[[File:No to the annexation 005.jpg|thumb|Demonstration against Israeli annexation of the West Bank, [[Rabin Square]], [[Tel Aviv-Yafo]], June 6, 2020]]
A multi-option poll<!-- A poll of whom? How sampled? --> by Near East Consulting (NEC) in November 2007 found the bi-national state to be less popular than either "two states for two people" or "a Palestinian state on all historic Palestine" with only 13.4% of respondents supporting a binational solution.<ref name=nec2007>{{cite web |url=http://www.neareastconsulting.com/surveys/all/p211/out_freq_q21.php/|title=NEC poll |year=2007 |work=NEC General Monthly Survey |publisher=Near East Consulting |access-date=25 January 2011}}</ref> However, in February 2007, NEC found that around 70% of Palestinian respondents backed the idea when given a straight choice of either supporting or opposing "a one-state solution in historic Palestine where Muslims, Christians and Jews have equal rights and responsibilities".<ref name=necf2007>{{cite web |url=http://www.neareastconsulting.com/surveys/ppp/p22/out_freq_q27.php/|title=NEC poll 2 |year=2007 |work=NEC General Monthly Survey |publisher=Near East Consulting |access-date=25 January 2011}}</ref>

In March 2010, a survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that Palestinian support had risen to 29 percent.<ref name="jp2010">{{cite news|last=Joffe-Walt|first=Benjamin|title=Palestinians increasingly back 1-state|url=http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=171559|access-date=3 September 2011|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|date=22 March 2010}}</ref>

In April 2010, a poll by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre also found that Palestinian support for a "bi-national" solution had jumped from 20.6 percent in June 2009 to 33.8 percent.<ref name="jm2010">{{cite web |url=http://www.jmcc.org/documentsandmaps.aspx?id=749|title=Jerusalem Media Poll |year=2010 |work=Poll No. 70, April 2010 - Governance and US policy|publisher=Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre|access-date=25 January 2011}}</ref> If this support for a bi-national state is combined with the finding that 9.8 percent of Palestinian respondents favour a "Palestinian state" in "all of historic Palestine", this poll suggested about equal Palestinian support for a two-state and one-state solution in mid-2010.<ref name="jp2010" /><ref name="jm2010" />

In 2011, a poll by Stanley Greenberg and the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion and sponsored by the [[Israel Project]] revealed that 61% of Palestinians reject a two state solution, while 34% said they accepted it.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hoffman |first=Gil |url=https://www.jpost.com/diplomacy-and-politics/6-in-10-palestinians-reject-2-state-solution-survey-finds |title=6 in 10 Palestinians reject 2-state solution, survey finds |website=Jerusalem Post |date=2011-07-15 |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref> 66% said the Palestinians’ real goal should be to start with a two-state solution but then move to it all being one Palestinian state.

==Views of current situation==
{{also|Israeli apartheid}}
In a 2021 survey of experts on the Middle East, 59 percent described the current situation as "a one-state reality akin to [[apartheid]]".<ref name="brookings" />

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]] (1947)
* [[List of Middle East peace proposals]]
** [[Two-state solution]]
** [[Three-state solution]]
* [[Jordanian option]]
** [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank]] (1950-1967/1988)
** [[King Hussein's federation plan]] (1972)
** [[Peres–Hussein London Agreement]] (1987)
* [[Allon Plan]] (1967)
* [[State of Palestine]] (declared 1988)
* [[State of Judea]] (declared 1988)
* [[Madrid Conference of 1991]]
* [[Oslo Accords]] (1993, 1995)
* [[Palestinian Authority]] (est. 1995)

;General concepts
* [[From the river to the sea]]
* [[Halachic state]]
* [[Palestinianism]]
* [[Melting pot]]
* [[Multiculturalism]]
* [[Zionism]]

;Personalities
*[[Ahad Ha'am]] (1856–1927)
* [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel]]
* [[Hannah Arendt]]
* [[Gilad Atzmon]]
* [[Hugo Bergmann]]
* [[Martin Buber]]
* [[Tony Judt]]
* [[Ghada Karmi]]
* [[Judah Leon Magnes]]
* [[Virginia Tilley]]

;Organisations
* [[Brit Shalom (political organization)]] (est. 1925), Jewish supporters of bi-national state
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Ali Abunimah|title=One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli–Palestinian Impasse |year=2007 |publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-8050-8666-9|author-link=Ali Abunimah}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Bakan |first1=Abigail B. |last2=Abu-Laban |first2=Yasmeen |title=Israel/Palestine, South Africa and the 'One-State Solution': The Case for an Apartheid Analysis |journal=Politikon |date=2010 |volume=37 |issue=2–3 |pages=331–351 |doi=10.1080/02589346.2010.522342|s2cid=145309414 | issn = 0258-9346}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Bisharat |first1=George E. |title=Maximizing Rights: The One State Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict |journal=Global Jurist |date=2008 |volume=8 |issue=2 |doi=10.2202/1934-2640.1266|s2cid=144638321 |url=https://repository.uchastings.edu/faculty_scholarship/1003 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book|author=Alan Dershowitz|title=The Case for Peace: How the Arab–Israeli Conflict Can be Resolved|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vXVp66UnFaUC|access-date=29 April 2011|date=4 August 2006|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|isbn=978-0-470-04585-5|author-link=Alan Dershowitz}}
*{{cite book |last1=Faris |first1=Hani |title=The Failure of the Two-State Solution: The Prospects of One State in the Israel-Palestine Conflict |date=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85773-423-5 |language=en}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Farsakh |first1=Leila |title=The One-State Solution and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Palestinian Challenges and Prospects |journal=The Middle East Journal |date=2011 |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=55–71 |doi=10.3751/65.1.13|s2cid=144766409 }}
* {{cite book|author=Caroline Glick|title=The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WS-0AAAAQBAJ|access-date=29 July 2014|date=4 March 2014|publisher=Crown Forum |isbn=978-0385348065 |author-link=Caroline Glick}}
* {{cite book|author=Susan Lee Hattis|title=The Bi-National Idea in Palestine during Mandatory Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4htAAAAMAAJ|access-date=29 April 2011|year=1970|publisher=Shikmona|location=Haifa}}
* Leon, Dan. "Binationalism: A Bridge over the Chasm." ''[[Palestine–Israel Journal]]'', 31 July 1999.
*{{cite book |last1=Lustick |first1=Ian S. |title=[[Paradigm Lost]]: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality |date=2019 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-5195-1 |language=en}}
* {{cite book|author1=Martin Buber|author2=Paul R. Mendes-Flohr|title=A land of two peoples: Martin Buber on Jews and Arabs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IE5B_0AjQjkC|access-date=29 April 2011|year=1994|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-07802-1|author-link1=Martin Buber}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Munayyer |first1=Yousef |title=There Will Be a One-State Solution |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=2019 |volume=98 |pages=30 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/fora98&div=123&id=&page=}}
* [[Reiner, M.]], "''Palestine – Divided or United? The Case for a Bi-National Palestine before the United Nations''" [[Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel|Lord Samuel]]; [[Ernst Simon|E. Simon]]; [[M. Smilansky]]; [[Judah Leon Magnes]]. [[Ihud]] Jerusalem 1947. Includes submitted written and oral testimony before UNSCOP; IHud's Proposals include: political, immigration, land, development (Reprinted [[Greenwood Press]] Reprint, Westport, CT, 1983, {{ISBN|0-8371-2617-7}})
* [[Edward Said|Said, E.]] ''The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After'', Granta Books, London: 2000
* {{cite book|author=Virginia Q. Tilley|title=The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli–Palestinian Deadlock|year=2005|publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-7336-6|author-link=Virginia Tilley}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:One-State Solution}}
[[Category:One-state solution| ]]
[[Category:Israeli–Palestinian peace process]]
[[Category:Phrases related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict]]