The Two-State Solution vs. the ‘Peace Process’, and Why the Distinction Is Critical

Introduction

Among active supporters of Palestinians’ rights, there is a strong popular tendency to reject what is known as “the two-state solution” in favor of a “one-state solution” to the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, this rejection is premised on the mistaken assumption that achieving the two-state solution was the goal of the now essentially defunct US-led so-called “peace process”. And the failure among Palestinian supporters to recognize this critical distinction is itself an obstacle toward a peaceful and just resolution.

The reality is that the goal of the “peace process” has never been to realize the two-state solution. And falsely equating the two has had the regrettable consequence of serving the interests of Israel’s occupation regime. It is, as the idiom goes, to throw out the baby with the bath water.

There are really two fundamental misunderstandings here: one about the two-state solution and the other about the “peace process”. These misunderstandings are a consequence of Zionist propaganda that has taken the form of common knowledge, but which is devoid of truth.

The US, of course, has always characterized its role in the “peace process” as benevolent and the process itself as being designed to achieve a two-state solution, but this must not be confused with the two-state solution. What must be recognized is that, while the latter is grounded in international law, the former is premised on a rejection of the applicability of international law toward a just resolution.

The True Meaning of Resolution 242

The Zionist propaganda at the heart of this confusion is Israel’s unilateral interpretation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which interpretation has no validity under international law.

This resolution was passed in the wake of the June 1967 war, during which Israel occupied the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The US government and media—including, regrettably, alternative online publications supportive of Palestinians’ rights—routinely propagate Israel’s false claims about Resolution 242 as though representing its true meaning and the intent of the Security Council. By mistakenly equating the “two-state solution” with the “peace process”, Palestinian supporters are unwittingly propagating the Zionist myth about Resolution 242, which is immensely damaging to the Palestinians’ cause.

The misinformation centers around the Security Council’s call in that resolution for Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied during the 1967 war. Israel’s ridiculous contention is that it was the will of the Security Council that Israel could retain some of the land it conquered during the war, and that Israel has no obligation to withdraw from occupied territory until a final peace agreement is reached that includes a final settlement on borders.

One of the foundational premises of the “peace process” is the US’s acceptance of Israel’s false interpretation as a framework for what have heinously been dubbed “negotiations”. Under this framework, the Palestinians must “negotiate” with their occupier while remaining under the thumb of the military occupation regime, and while Israel continues to prejudice the outcome of said “negotiations” with the continual expansion of its Jewish settlements constructed illegally within occupied territory.

The intended outcome of this US-led process is to force the Palestinians to surrender their rights to an extent deemed satisfactory by Israel. Under the US framework, Palestinians not only must surrender even more of their land to Israel, but also their right to return to their own homeland, from which a majority of them were expelled during the campaign of ethnic cleansing by which the “Jewish state” of Israel was established in 1948.

The governments of Israel and the US would have the world believe that this framework is grounded in international law. They even cite Resolution 242 as the basis for the “peace process”. But it is a twisted shadow of Resolution 242 that the “peace process” represents, not the principles of international law the resolution was intended to uphold.

The truth is that it was the unanimous will of the Security Council that Israel must completely and immediately withdraw its forces from Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in accordance with the principle of international law that the acquisition of territory by war is inadmissible.

I have expounded on this in my article “UN Resolution 242’s True Significance vs. Popular Zionist Myth”, which is adapted from an excerpt of my book Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, so I will not repeat my arguments here.

Suffice to say that powerful Zionist propaganda all too readily accepted by the US and other Western governments has achieved its desired effect. The Western media in turn also propagate the myth, casting a spell over the public mind. Even Palestinian supporters have been deceived into believing the myth over reality—not unlike how the related myth that the UN created Israel persists despite having no basis in fact.

It is time for this bewitchment to end.