VOA新闻杂志2023--Can a Two-State Solution Survive the Israel-Hamas Conflict?

Can a Two-State Solution Survive the Israel-Hamas Conflict?

For 30 years, many nations around the world considered two states - one Israeli, one Palestinian - as the way to reach peace in the Middle East.

VOA recently spoke¹ to several experts about ideas for peace.

Many people believe two states remain the only path forward even after Hamas' October 7 deadly attack and Israel's strong counter-offensive.

Israel says Gaza's Hamas rulers killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240 in their attack. Gaza's Health Ministry², which is led by Hamas, says more than 10,000 people have died in Israel's counter-offensive.

However, political expert Uriel Abulof of Tel Aviv University believes the loss of life on both sides has not made peace impossible.

Abulof said the war has created a chance for people to "understand that this is not a conflict between the majority of Israelis and Palestinians, [both of whom] want to live in coexistence, without radical³ leaders," he said.

"On one side you have Hamas, which you have to deal with militarily, and on the other side are (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition⁴, which need to be dealt with politically," he told VOA.

Hussein Ibish is with the Arab Gulf⁵ States Institute that is based in Washington, D.C. He also believes that a permanent solution to the long conflict is possible only with a two-state model. He said it could be done in steps.

"Israel must finally and formally accept the Palestinian right to a state and the need for it. The construction and establishment of settlements must stop completely," he said.

Ibish believes Israeli settlements in the West Bank, one of the two Palestinian territories, should be halted. Israel completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Ibish also said Palestinians must condemn⁶ the Hamas attacks of October 7 and promise to end the violence. He said the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, must be strengthened.

Actionable plan or unrealistic?

Other experts are doubtful. Omer Bartov is a professor of Holocaust⁷ and genocide studies at Brown University in the American state of Rhode Island.

Bartov believes the two-state plan is unrealistic. He said it would create an economically weak Palestine that is dependent on Israel. He added that "because there are between half-a-million and 750,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank...their removal from the territory would mean civil war."

He also notes there are 2 million Palestinians who live in Israel.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with East Jerusalem, from Jordan in the Six-Day War of 1967. It took Gaza from Egypt in the same war but withdrew from the territory.

Bartov said another possibility is a confederation of Palestinian-Israeli states within the 1967 borders.

A confederated state, he said, would permit Palestinian refugees to return to territories their ancestors left when Israel was created. "Jerusalem could be the common capital," he said.

"There would be a difference between citizenship⁸ and residence," said Bartov. "Jewish settlers could continue to live in the Palestinian state but behave according to its regulations. And the Palestinians could return from exile..."

However, he said the single-state solution seems impossible because of the current war.

A part for the U.S.

Ibish of the Arab Gulf States Institute said U.S. involvement would be important to any permanent solution.

He said the U.S. is the only country with the influence to guarantee a two-state peace agreement. However, he said, there is a large political cost in the U.S. to put too much pressure on Israel.

Bartov of Brown University agreed that no plan is possible without the U.S. support on which Israel depends politically and militarily.

Without it, he suggested, the endless warfare⁹ would only continue.

Israelis and Palestinians "really don't feel there is hope. That's why the perspective must be changed - how to make these two groups of people live side by side, not apart."

Words in This Story

coexistence - v. to live together in peace

construction -n. the act of building structures with workers and heavy equipment

confederation - n. a group of people, countries, territories or organizations that are connected by rules or laws but that govern themselves

residence - n. to live in a place and legally have it as your home

regulation - n. rules and laws

 

perspective - n. the way a person understands or thinks about something

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

4 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

7 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

8 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

9 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。