The Two-State Solution for Israel is No Solution at All: Why We Must Allow Israel to Protect Itself Both Now and In the Future

Author
Richard Harris

Date posted: 03-11-2024

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Estimated Reading Time : 10:00

On October 7, 2023, the terrorist organization, Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza strip since 2007, savagely attacked thousands of innocent Israeli citizens. It has been called Israel’s 9/11. But the reality is far worse. Israel is a small country of roughly 10 million people. In the first 5 days of the attack, 1,200 civilians were murdered. By comparison, the United States has 330 million people, and as Messianic Jewish author Joel C. Rosenberg said, an attack of “the same magnitude for America,” would have involved Americans “waking up [to] news stories of about 30,000 Americans murdered in 5 days.” What’s more, since October 7, more than 14,500 rockets and mortar rounds have been fired into the tiny nation of Israel.

Adding to the level of shock, these were not soldiers who died in a military skirmish. These were civilians, and included babies beheaded in front of their mothers, mothers being cut down in front of their children. The terrorists also raped and sexually assaulted women young and old, and seized 253 innocent civilians as hostages. While some hostages have been released, over 100 remain in captivity. Those who have been released have testified to horrific conditions that include starvation and sexual assault. Many remaining hostages are believed to have died while in Hamas’ hands.   

For a few days after the heinous violence, the non-Muslim world seemed united in its condemnation of Hamas and support of Israel. Israel announced that it would eradicate Hamas and its armed forces (“IDF”) began a careful strategic assault on Hamas positions in Gaza. Since then, the IDF has been systematically rooting terrorists from their 500-mile-long network of tunnels and destroying countless weapons caches, many of which are inside or beneath hospitals and schools. Israel has made every effort to limit deaths of non-combatants, and thus its military campaign has taken longer than expected and remains ongoing.

The unified support of Israel quickly yielded to the shrill cries of progressives’ anti-Semitic campaign.   Crowds of college students, leftists, and American Muslims have accused Israel of “genocide” and called it an “occupier,” while demanding genocide against the Jewish people with the jihadist chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free.”

The liberal press, meanwhile, has predictably reported daily stories of Gazan deaths and suffering, playing willingly into the Hamas propaganda operation. Now, only five months after the worst day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Joe Biden and other world leaders are lobbying for an immediate cease-fire and imposition of a “two-state solution,” even though Hamas has not yet been eradicated and no safe or thoughtful plan exists for the creation of a Palestinian nation-state.

The truth is that a two-state solution is no solution at all and should be resoundingly rejected.

A “two-state solution” is no solution because radical Palestinians have no desire for peaceful co-existence with Israel. Muslim Palestinians hate Israel and passionately want to eliminate it. A poll released in December shows 57% of Gazans and 82% of West Bank Palestinians approve of the October 7 Hamas attacks. 

To implement its so-called two-state solution, the Biden Administration is urging Israel to allow Mahmoud Abbas to lead a united Palestinian state. Abbas is the current president of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank. Biden’s idea is a non-starter. Palestinians cannot stand Abbas. In the latest poll, 90% of Palestinians already want Abbas to resign. The main reason they do not like him is not his thorough corruption and ineffectiveness as a leader, but the fact that he has cooperated in some ways with Israeli security activities against West Bank residents. In other words, they want someone who will fight against Israel.    

In fact, the most popular groups among Palestinians in Gaza are the Lion’s Den and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which garner approval ratings from 71% and 74% of Gazans, respectively. Both are terror groups like Hamas, dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

The Palestinians’ unwillingness (and the unwillingness of fundamentalist Muslims across the Middle East) to live peaceably with Israel is nothing new.

Historically, Israel has made many attempts to broker peace with their enemies, but every time, the Muslim Palestinian leaders have refuse whatever agreement is placed in front of them. This should not surprise us, since the Palestinian Muslim population is ruled by terrorist organizations dedicated to the destruction of Israel. One only need to read the preamble to their charter to understand Hamas’ true mission:

 “Our battle with the Jews is long and dangerous, requiring all dedicated efforts. It is a phase which must be followed by succeeding phases, a battalion which must be supported by battalion after battalion of the divided Arab and Islamic world until the enemy is overcome, and the victory of Allah descends.”

—Hamas Charter, Preamble

Historically, it is not Israel, but the Palestinians who have refused to consider two nation-states in the Land. This refusal by Muslim leaders goes all the way back to the founding of the modern state of Israel.   On November 29, 1947, the United Nations adopted the Partition Resolution that would divide Great Britain’s former Palestinian mandate into Jewish and Arab states. Under the resolution, the area of religious significance surrounding Jerusalem would remain under international control administered by the United Nations; the Palestinians would have land and the Jewish people would have land, each free to become an independent state. Palestinian Arabs refused to recognize this arrangement, stating that it favored the Jews and was unfair to those Arabs who would remain in Jewish territory under the partition. The refusal to accept the existence of Israel persists to this day, even though hundreds of thousands of Muslim Palestinians live inside Israel as bona fide citizens and enjoy freedom and opportunity under the law.

The land given to Israel under the Partition Resolution was roughly the size of New Jersey. And yet the land given by God in Gen 15:18 and Jos. 1:4 includes all the land it currently possesses, all the territory occupied by the Palestinians (the West Bank and Gaza), and parts of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. Israel has made no attempt to take back all that truly belongs to them. Instead, they have simply desired to dwell in the land of their ancestors, having a haven from the violent pogroms that have followed them since the Diaspora.

Six months after the 1947 UN Resolution, modern-day Israel declared statehood, on May 14, 1948.  Immediately, radical Muslims across the Middle East reacted with a shocking level of vitriol hatred. Muslim Arab states showed no sympathy or support for the Jewish people even though their independence marked the end of 1,900 years of exile from the land consisting of violent abuse and discrimination, including inquisitions, pogroms, and the Holocaust (the systematic murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime in Germany only three years prior). Within hours of Israel declaring statehood, Arab armies from Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia invaded the newborn, tiny country in an attempt to annihilate her people.

That invasion by her Arab neighbors was only the first of many violent attacks Israel would have to endure. It was followed by the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the First and Second Intifadas, and an ongoing reality of terrorist bombs, kidnappings, rockets, and other violence. Israel has prevailed against her aggressors in these conflicts against great odds, being outnumbered and outgunned. From 2000 to October 7, 2023, several thousand rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel, killing or wounding many innocent civilians. From 1993 through October 6, 2023, Muslim terrorists have killed more than 4,100 innocent Israeli civilians. This does not include Israeli soldiers and police, nor the more than 1,200 people killed on October 7.

Radical Islamists repeatedly distort truth to garner sympathy on the UN world stage, claiming that they are the victims. Not everyone is fooled. Harry Hutchison sums it up in his book Unmasking Hamas: “Hamas does not want “peace” with Israel, and it will not negotiate a permanent peace agreement with Israel. Instead, it will only agree to intermittent ‘truces’ when its military capabilities have been so degraded that it needs time to recuperate and rearm.”

In the Oslo Accords of 1993-1995, the Palestinians agreed to pursue their political aims solely through negotiations instead of violence. They also agreed to refrain from teaching their children to hate Israel and the Jewish people.

In return, Israel surrendered control of major portions of the West Bank to a newly formed entity, the Palestinian Authority. Israel also withdrew completely from Gaza in 2005, going beyond what even the Oslo Accords required. Israel has also vacated many Jewish settlements in the so-called “occupied territory.” Yet none of this has pacified the Palestinian Muslim population.

In 2006, the people of Gaza held elections for parliament and swiftly gave control to Hamas. No free election has been held in Gaza since. Hamas has ruled the area with one goal in mind: the enrichment of Hamas leadership and the destruction of Israel. Despite the influx of billions of dollars in aid, they have not built solid infrastructure, improved their schools, or done anything significant to change the plight of their people or make peace. Instead, they have constructed hundreds of miles of concrete tunnels, stored weapons, trained terrorists, and rained tens of thousands of rockets into Israeli.

The October 7 attacks demonstrate once and for all that Hamas and its supporters have no interest in peace. Even Palestinian Authority President Abbas refused to condemn the Hamas atrocities.

Imposing a cease-fire before Israel finishes the work of eradicating Hamas would be counter-productive to peace. It would only serve to embolden Hamas and empower it to regroup, hide weapons, and plot new schemes for murder and mayhem.

Furthermore, creating an independent Palestinian nation-state (on both sides of Israel) is, simply put, an insane idea. Such a state would be a sovereign terror base, protected by the privileges and immunities of international law, from which Muslim jihadi radicals would erect armies and inflict even more death on Israel.

There is now only one pathway to peace. First, Israel must conquer the terrorists on its borders and the United States must stand up for Israel’s fundamental right to do this. Plain and simple, enough is enough. Israel has endured far more than enough violence to justify its military response.

Second, Israel must be allowed to establish military, intelligence, and police operations in Gaza and the West Bank that are sufficient to impose and maintain law and order. This must be supported not only because it is essential for the protection of innocent Israelis, but also for the sake of those among the Palestinian people who do desire to live in peace. 

In short, the time has come to face the truth in the Holy Land. Israel is entitled to defend itself. We must support all necessary activity by Israel to secure its people. This includes not only military activity in the short term to eradicate known terrorists, but also the long-term activities, organization, and infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank to stop terrorism in the future. We would insist on nothing less if the United States were the victim of such attacks, and there is no reason why we should accept anything less for our ally, the free and democratic nation of Israel.