US State Department: “The two-state solution” is the best
State Department Deputy Spokesperson Galina Porter said on Tuesday that the United States “believes that a negotiated two-state solution is the best way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” noting “Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s announcement earlier this year that we will proceed with the issue of opening the US consulate in Israel.”
Porter added that the administration of US President Joe Biden “has made it clear on many occasions that Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve to live in security, prosperity, and freedom.”
What is the two-state solution?
The establishment of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel represents the reference solution adopted by the international community to resolve one of the oldest conflicts in the world.
The vision of a two-state solution, that is, an Israeli state and a Palestinian state coexisting peacefully side by side, is based on the establishment of a Palestinian state within the borders drawn in the wake of the Arab-Israeli war in 1967.
In 1988, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat issued the Declaration of Independence, which spoke for the first time of “two states for two peoples”, recognizing the State of Israel and its sovereignty over 78% of historic Palestine.
The recognition is supported by the Palestine Liberation Organization, which includes all Palestinian factions and parties, except for the two powerful Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which does not recognize Israel, opposes the two-state solution and calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state on all of historic Palestine.
Since 1947, the United Nations adopted a resolution to partition Palestine with maps defining the borders of the two states, while Jerusalem was formed as a third entity under international supervision, whereas Arab leaders rejected this proposal.
The Oslo Accords signed in 1993 provide for the establishment of a Palestinian state by 1999.
Who supports it and who opposes it?
Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hanan Ashrawi, asserts that there is a “consensus” on the two-state solution to reach peace.
The United Nations, which granted the State of Palestine the status of an observer member, supported this solution, which constitutes the basic principle of the solution advocated by the European Union.
The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which proposes the establishment of a Palestinian state in exchange for normal relations between Arab states and Israel, is also based on this solution.
