Last year I wrote a piece for Vision Magazine about the noticeable trends of Palestinian support for both the one-state and two-state solutions. I specifically focused on how support for the latter was dropping fast, the expected causes for this shift, and some background on the types of groups that tend to support various alternative options.
Today, Dr. Khalil Shikaki, the director and senior researcher at the Palestine Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) posted on Twitter that support for one state has risen yet again, to 37%, in just two months.
At the same time, support for two states has dropped to below 40%, for the first time since the signing of the Oslo Accords (when PCPSR and others started polling).
What should one make of all this?
The simple answer is that Palestinians are looking into different methodologies for ending the daily oppression they face. Palestinian acceptance of the concept of two states is still relatively new.
We’re all familiar with the hasbara talking points about how the Palestinians say no to every “peace” deal thrown their way. Palestinians were sold on the idea of partition and a nation-state by the Western governments (namely the United States) on the premise that this was the only feasible way to achieve freedom, justice, and equality.
This partition paradigm was pushed heavily in the post-Cold War period, in a process called Balkanization, which stipulated the sole way to be an accepted nation was to have a national anthem, a flag, and state institutions (based on Western models) to call their own. The Oslo Accords conveniently occurred during this time period and Palestinians bought in, seeking to end the already 25-year-old military occupation and absence of rights that plagued their everyday lives.
Following the Oslo Accords, Palestinians felt they were on the track to statehood – much like the peoples of the former Soviet Union. But after 25+ years of diplomatic stagnation, entrenched military rule, a corrupt local government, and continuing economic degradation, Palestinians are exploring alternatives to the Western-backed plans to partition the country into two states.
For many Palestinians, the acceptance of partition in 1993 was an incredibly painful one (whereby they negated their claims to 78% of the land between the Jordan and Mediterranean) – something they feel to be all too easily forgotten by non-Palestinians.
With the recent release of Trump’s Deal of the Century, the façade that certain segments of Palestinian society were willing to swallow in the pursuit of a Palestinian state, has simply become too much of a burden to accept.
Those Palestinians who were convinced of the benefit/necessity for pursing a nation-state (while not economically benefitting the way certain classes within Palestinian society do) are now realizing the futility of sticking with it. Considering the West (led by the United States) is in the process of weaning the Palestinians off aid (as a form of pressure to accept the Deal of the Century), the question now arises what step will the Palestinian people take towards trying to achieve their rights?
Many are turning to the prospect of a one-state solution, whereby every resident between the river to the sea will be an equal citizen, with no prejudice due to ethnicity or religion.
Will the Palestinian Authority, whose tiny sense of legitimacy is based on the prospect of a Palestinian nation-state, fight this or lead the charge? Will they seek to improve their people’s chances for freedom, equality, and justice or will they try to obstruct them in a bid to keep themselves in power?
For those of you still asking “what do Palestinians want,” I suggest looking no further than Noura Erekat’s simple, yet articulate explanation in this video (from 4:10):
