Advertisement
Opinion | Israel-Gaza war: is a two-state, two-economy solution still possible?
- No independent Palestinian state or economy can arise amid Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the eco-demographic strangulation of East Jerusalem and destruction of Gaza
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
6
For some people, the bloody war in Gaza may have shattered the 35-year consensus that the only feasible solution to the region’s troubles is to have two states, Israel and Palestine, living peaceably side by side. Yet, others suggest that the horrors we have witnessed since October 7 could augur the revival of that very goal.
In recent statements, American, Palestinian and Arab officials have all stressed that a two-state solution must emerge phoenix-like from the ashes of this war. Reasonable people everywhere can only hope that this might still provide the framework for a definitive and mutually agreed end to a century-old struggle.
The timing of this renewed interest is ironic. November is when Palestinians commemorate the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO’s) 1988 Declaration of Independence, which was adopted from exile in Algeria at the height of the first intifada, or uprising. All Palestinian factions – including the most radical of the period – accepted the partition of Palestine and Israel’s de facto existence within pre-1967 borders.
Advertisement
In making that breakthrough declaration, the PLO officially identified only one major condition for peace: the 22 per cent of Palestine comprising the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip must be liberated of all Israeli settlers. Otherwise, the territory could never be viable as the space for a sovereign, independent state with its own natural resources and recognisable borders.
Immediately following the Algiers declaration, Palestinian economists started grappling with the economic implications of a two-state configuration. In 1990, a comprehensive PLO-led study concluded that a contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, could indeed be economically viable.
Advertisement
But, given the weak resource base, minuscule land area and expected challenges of absorbing Palestinian refugees and returnees, viability depended, to begin with, on Israel’s military withdrawal and evacuation, and the dismantlement of settlements. Without such a retreat by Israel, economic development could not be assured, because no investor would have confidence in Palestinian sovereignty.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Select Speed
1.00x