Resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Arabs is not possible because the dispute is not over tangibles - territory, economic benefits, etc - but intangibles: identity, nationalism, and religion. That is why all attempts to end the conflict by making compromises failed. Both sides see the struggle as existential.
Ironically, a solution can found in the concept of sovereignty. Israeli sovereignty is widely recognized and indisputable; Palestinian Arab sovereignty is not. As a political concept, sovereignty means the ability of a nation-state to exercise its authority over territory which it legitimately controls, based on the right of its residents to self-determination. Local groups may contest the right of the sovereign to rule over them, but this must be done within the architecture of sovereignty and democracy. Hostile forces and entities cannot be allowed.
Legally, questions of sovereignty over territory which is disputed must have a basis in law. For the territory which was called Palestine, that means a return to the original plan of the League of Nations for creating sovereign states. Any plan that is proposed must be consistent with that plan because, as the recognized sovereign power, its actions create laws and reality. The legitimacy of all states in the region depends on that fundamental power.
Following WWI and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations authorized British and French Mandates to replace the defunct Ottoman rulers. Their plan was to create states based on the major populations in the area. Their plan resulted in the creation of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia; Egypt was already well-defined. The British recognized Eretz Yisrael (Palestine) as the “National Homeland of the Jewish People," but it also wanted to give something equivalent to its Arab residents. In 1922, therefore, Britain carved out a state for them, which was called Transjordan, later changed to Jordan, and installed a prominent Saudi Arabian tribe, the Hashemites, as its rulers.
All of the powers and authority of the League of Nations were incorporated into the United Nations, in 1945, and therefore, are the basis of international law.
In 1947, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 181, which outlined borders for an Arab and a Jewish state. It was rejected by all Arab states, which prepared for war.
When the State of Israel was declared in 1948, it was accepted by the UN, the US and most of the international community based on lines drawn by the British Mandate. The plan was interrupted, however, when 5 Arab states attacked Israel, intent on its destruction. During the war, Egypt seized the Gaza Strip, and Jordan took Judea/Samaria and eastern Jerusalem (aka the "West Bank"); Syria claimed the Golan Heights. During the war, hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled and most became refugees; UNRWA was established to provide camps for them in Lebanon, and the areas conquered by Arab armies. No Arab state was willing to accept them. An Armistice was agreed to in 1949 and lasted until 1967, when Israel recovered the areas it had lost.
After the war, the UN asked a private Swiss organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for its opinion on the status of the territories which Israel had conquered. The ICRC declared that these areas were “occupied Palestinian territories’ (OPT), and that Israel had violated international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention. Although its decision had no legal basis, it was accepted by the UN and most of the international community; its deliberations remain secret.
Although Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan and later the Abraham Accords, most Arab states and all terrorist organizations, such as the PLO, the Muslim Brotherhood (the parent organization of Hamas), and others are opposed to any acceptance of Israel. They demand a state, “liberation" (from Israel), the “right of return" to Israel (to reclaim abandoned properties), and Israel’s destruction.
Israel sought to end the conflict by recognizing the PLO’s legitimacy and established the Palestinian Authority (PA) based on the Oslo Accords. Not only did this fail, it led to waves of suicidal attacks (the Second Intifada), led by the PA, during which thousands of Israelis were murdered and maimed; Hamas continued it when it took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, built an army, and massacred 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds of hostages on Oct 7, 2023. Another Intifada is planned for Judea and Samaria led by the PA, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations.
A ‘two-state-solution,’ the creation of a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza (the “West Bank") is not an option since it would be controlled by terrorist organizations and Iran and will empower them.
‘Palestinian self-determination’ cannot be realized within the current structure of the Middle East since Arab Palestinians have consistently rejected any two -state solution. Except for Jordan, in which most of its population are Palestinian Arabs, Arab countries refuse to accept Palestinian Arabs as citizens in order to perpetuate the conflict.
The fundamental question is, what does Arab Palestinianism mean? What values and ideology does it represent? Does it mean anything more than “Death to Israel!"?
Israeli sovereignty and Arab Zionism is the answer.
Arab Palestinians who live in Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, and Gaza can integrate and become part of Israeli society while retaining a separate identity. Their integration must be based on loyalty to the state and support for security - ours and theirs -- and trust. This plan provides an alternative and replaces rejection with acceptance, despair with hope. All forms of bigotry and Jew-hatred by Muslim leaders must be banned and eliminated. The Muslim Brotherhood should be banned, at least in Israel.
Ironically, the best alternative to a destructive Palestinian state is a constructive Israeli state with full sovereignty in all areas of Eretz Yisrael. Our future is also theirs.