Is the two-state solution no longer viable?

[beccy]

Under the current Israeli government, and with the situation on the ground, is a two-state solution no longer viable? Was it ever desirable? What should we be working towards for Israel-Palestine?

[eddm]

It depends on what basis the two-states are to be built. I object to the language of two-state or one-state "solutions" as if any of these proposals will solve things over night. It's a clever piece of spin that this language has been adopted by almost everyone, whatever their opinion.

Netanyahu's position is still against an independent Palestine. Obama has been pretty soft on this, despite issuing some empty statements against West Bank settlement activity (no word on lifting the siege of Gaza, of course...) It's not inconceivable that the US could lean on Israel to openly back a Palestinian state a bit more in the future, but it's hardly high on their international priorities list. Among other things, there's elections in Iran and Lebanon this week that will have ramifications for the region.

In any case, waiting for a state to be handed down to the Palestinians looks like it will take years, at least, now. Even if the US-backed "roadmap" was close to establishing a Palestinian state before Hamas were elected to power, the Israeli government will never accept a Hamas-run state and nor will the US. So for the foreseeable future the Palestinians will remain a stateless people subjected to siege and oppression.

The question is not just one of how many states but of on what basis such states are built. I believe in an independent Palestine alongside an independent Israel, but one which is built through the struggle of Palestinians to achieve it themselves, alongside other Arab (and Israeli) workers. Similarly I support an organisation in Israel called he Socialist Struggle Movement which works to build revolutionary politics across the divide.

In short: two states, yes, but two socialist states. Sounds utopian doesn't it? But not as utopian as waiting for the goodwill of the Obama's and Lieberman's to hand down Palestinians' own 'liberation' to them.