Publication

This paper highlights the conditions that will have to be met if there is ever to be a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After reminding us that Israelis will never agree to a two-state solution unless their security concerns are addressed and that Palestinians will never agree to a pact that would codify endless occupation, the text’s authors cite six principles that must be put in place if a two-state solution is to come about. They include 1) building a multilayered system that addresses Israel’s right to self-defense with its own armed forces, although only in dire cases; 2) minimizing Israeli visibility to Palestinian civilians and pursuing significant early steps that signal a fundamental change “on the ground” to Palestinians; 3) planning a conditions-dependent, performance-based, area-by-area phased redeployment of Israeli security forces with targeted timetables, benchmarks, and an effective remediation process; and 4) building joint operations centers and data sharing mechanisms for all stakeholders, etc.