Be it resolved: A one-state solution is the best hope of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

It is perhaps the most disputed land on earth, with claims over property rights going back thousands of years. For decades, foreign governments have attempted to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians through a two-state solution. Yet the 1991 Madrid Conference, the 1993 Oslo Accords, the 2000 Camp David Summit and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative have all failed in their ultimate goal: to create mutually agreed upon boundaries whereby both peoples can live side by side, peacefully, within secure and recognized borders. With every failed attempt at a two-state solution tensions between the two sides increase and hope for peace becomes ever more elusive; Palestinians, disillusioned with occupation and settler annexation, see their dreams of liberation and statehood slowly evaporating. Israelis, weary of corrupt Palestinian leadership and a continuous wave of terror attacks, do not see a legitimate partner for peace. Now, many Palestinians believe it is time to give up on this pipe dream. The two-state solution, they argue, is dead. The only chance at delivering peace to the region is to end the occupation and create one democratic state with equal rights for both Israelis and Palestinians. Most Jews oppose this plan. Israel was created as a safe haven for a people that have faced generations of prejudice, discrimination, and persecution. They argue that absorbing Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza into Israel will lead to large scale violence and the end of the Jewish state as we know it.

Arguing for the motion is George Bisharat, Law Professor at UC Hastings and a fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.

Arguing against the motion is Gil Troy, History Professor at McGill University and a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.

QUOTES:

GEORGE BISHARAT:

“Only the one state solution, a state governed by principles of equal rights and true democracy, promises to resolve all of the injustices and bring durable peace to the region” 

GIL TROY:

“A one-state solution is actually a no Jewish state solution. It's a way of trying to wrap up in lovely language about justice and democracy an attempt to eliminate the Jewish state”

Sources: PBS, AP, CNN, RT

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