Love of the Land: Thinking About The One State Solution

Thinking About The One State Solution

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
Weekly Commentary
21 January '10

A growing number of Jewish residents in Judea and Samaria have been
advocating a “one state solution” in which their Palestinian neighbors
become voting Israeli citizens with Gaza’s final disposition unclear.

While the proposition certainly highlights the fact that the so-called
“demographic problem” is a red herring – and ever more so if we are only
counting the Palestinians residing in the West Bank, those promoting the
move need to walk through how such a plan might actually play out.

The efficacy of the proposal hinges on retaining the asymmetric application
of “right of return” that is the very hallmark of Israel being a “Jewish
State”: Jews from the Diaspora can continue to immigrate to Israel and
become citizens while Arabs with ancestral ties to Israel (we are now at the
stage that most “Palestinian refugees” are actually the progeny of refugees
born overseas) cannot exercise the “right of return of refugees”.

To what extent would not “resolving” the “refugee problem” destabilize the
region or is the Palestinian assessment, as expressed in most polls, that
the Arab world really doesn’t care that much about them, correct?

What happens with the security arrangements within the Arab areas? Do the
local PA cops simply trade badges or what?

We have a generation of Palestinians brainwashed by their schools and media
to hate Israel. Does granting them citizenship simply click this off? If
it doesn’t then how will this hatred impact the outcome?

Are all travel and other security-related restrictions simply dropped
overnight and if not, how does this work given that we are talking about
Israeli citizens? Granted, during the early years of Israel there were
restrictions on Israeli Arabs, but it is hardly clear that such arrangements
would pass the muster in the 21st century.

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Love of the Land: Thinking About The One State Solution