It is supposed, so it seems, to come about something like this: the Palestinians will give up their struggle for liberation and their aspiration for a national state of their own. They will announce that they want to live in a joint state with the Israelis. After the establishment of this state, they will have to fight for their civil rights. People of goodwill around the world will support their struggle, as they once did in South Africa. They will impose a boycott. They will isolate the state. Millions of refugees will come back to the country. Thus the wheel will turn back and the Palestinian majority will attain power.
How much time will that take? Two generations? Three
generations? Four generations?
Does anyone imagine how such a state will function in practice? The inhabitants of Bil'in will pay the same taxes as the inhabitant of Kfar-Sava? The inhabitants of Jenin will enact a constitution together with the inhabitants of Netanya? The inhabitants of Hebron and the settlers will serve in the same army and the same police force, shoulder to shoulder, and will be subject to the same laws? Is that realistic?
Some say: but that situation already exists. Israel is already governing one state from the sea to the river. One has only to change the regime. But nothing of the sort exists. What does exist are an occupying state and an occupied territory.
It is far, far easier to dismantle settlements than to compel 6 million Jewish Israelis to dismantle the state.
No, the one state will not come into being. But let's ask ourselvesif it did come into being, would that be a good thing?
My answer is: absolutely not.
Let's examine this state, not as an imaginary creature, the epitome of perfection, but as it would be in reality.
In this state, the Israelis will be dominant. They have a complete superiority in practically all spheres: quality of life, military power, technological capabilities. The average per annum income of an Israeli is 25 times (25 times!) higher than that of an average Palestinian$20,000 as against $800. The Israelis will see to it that the Palestinians will be the hewers of wood and the drawers of water for a long, long time.
It will be an occupation by other means. A disguised occupation. It will not end the conflict, but open another phase.
Will this solution bring a just peace? Hardly.
This state will be a battlefield. Each side will try to take over as much land as possible and bring in as many persons as possible. The Jews will fight by all means to prevent the Arabs from becoming the majority and coming to power. In practice, this will be an apartheid