Palestinian state

A mural depicting President Donald Trump kissing an Israeli army watchtower on the separation wall in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, August 4, 2017. (Flash90)

Don’t eulogize the two-state solution just yet

Trump’s peace deal may have declared the death of the 'classic' two-state formula, but that doesn't mean we should abandon the idea altogether.

By Said Zeedani February 5, 2020

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plants an olive tree at the Netiv Ha'avot neighborhood in Gush Etzion, West Bank, January 28, 2019. (Marc Israel Selem/Flash90)

Netanyahu wants to turn annexation into his lasting legacy

Nothing would make Netanyahu happier than watching his successor continue to thwart a Palestinian state — even if Bibi has to watch it from the window of his prison cell.

By Meron Rapoport December 5, 2019

Israeli security forces guard as Jews tour the Palestinian side of the old city market in the West Bank city of Hebron, June 15, 2019. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Elections reveal a seismic split within Israel’s right

Once the ascendant elite, the settler movement’s political power is on the decline. By Meron Rapoport While political analysts wonder if we have come to the end of the Netanyahu era, little attention is being paid to another major outcome of this election — that is, the decline of the national religious movement’s political power.…

By +972 Magazine September 19, 2019

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Yahya Sinwar, new leader of Hamas, inspects the border with Egypt from thr city of Rafah, July 6, 2017. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The Israeli right is now openly saying it wants to keep Hamas in power

As the latest round of fighting in Gaza and southern Israel died down, it became clear that keeping Hamas in power has become a central tenet of the Israeli right. By Meron Rapoport The idea that Hamas is an Israeli creation is nearly as old as Hamas itself. Researchers, journalists, high-ranking Israeli military and government officials…

By +972 Magazine May 12, 2019

Route 4370, known as the 'apartheid road,' just east of Jerusalem, West Bank. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israel’s new ‘apartheid road’ is about more than just segregation

Israel claims the new road, which separates Israelis and Palestinians by an eight-meter wall, alleviates traffic for settlers while helping Palestinians travel around the West Bank. Human rights activists say it will help create Israeli-only enclaves free of any Palestinian presence. Israel unveiled a new segregated highway in the occupied West Bank last week, with a giant eight-meter…

By Edo Konrad January 16, 2019

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, MK David Bitan, Culture Minister Miri Regev and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend a Knesset plenum session, December 5, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Don’t believe the hype: The Israeli right is weaker than it seems

The right had a decade to annex the West Bank, quash Palestinian aspirations, and thwart Hamas in Gaza. Yet today, more than ever, its invincibility is anything but certain. By Meron Rapoport The past decade belonged to the Israeli right. Since 2009, the right-wing bloc easily defeated its opponents and won elections, while Prime Minister Benjamin…

By +972 Magazine December 27, 2018

An Israeli settler argues with Palestinians during a protest against a new tent placed by Jewish settlers near the West bank village of Bani Naem on June 23, 2018 (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90).

In advocating for a Palestinian state, Haaretz forgets about the Palestinians

According to Haaretz, all Israel has to do to maintain the relevance of the two-state solution is evacuate 9,800 Jewish families from the West Bank. How do the Palestinians factor into this vision? They do not. By Meron Rapoport The headline on the front page of last weekend’s Haaretz weekend magazine was a short one:…

By +972 Magazine August 20, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US President Donald Trump, in New York. September 18, 2017. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

How Trump energizes deniers of Palestinian independence

Taking their cues from the American president, right-wingers like Bret Stephens argue that the Palestinians don’t deserve a state. Here’s why they’re wrong. President Trump could have made a tremendous statement last week had he recognized the claims of both Israel and the Palestinians to a capital in Jerusalem. Instead, he reinforced Israel’s already disproportionate advantage…

By Dahlia Scheindlin December 12, 2017

Palestinian irregulars near a burnt armored Haganah supply truck, the road to Jerusalem, 1948. (Palmach Archive)

The unknown history of the UN plan to partition Palestine

Twenty years after the Palestinian leadership declared partition ‘entirely illegal,’ they reversed course and recognized that accepting the division of the homeland could lay the groundwork for an independent state. By Jerome M. Segal A few days ago, Israel and its supporters worldwide marked the 70th Anniversary of the 1947 Partition Resolution, which was passed by the UN…

By +972 Magazine December 1, 2017

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a PLO executive committee meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 22, 2015. (Flash90)

Palestinian reconciliation could work this time. Israel must support it

The current Palestinian reconciliation agreement looks like it could actually hold, largely due to regional and internal changes over the past few years. What does this bode for the peace process? A former minister in the Palestinian government explains. By Ashraf al-Ajrami This is not the first time the two large Palestinian political movements, Fatah…

By +972 Magazine October 15, 2017

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 72nd session of United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters, New York. (Amir Levy/Flash90)

Give the people what they want: Palestinians take a step toward unity

With Russian involvement, American support, and Israel's tacit agreement, the Palestinians are taking active steps toward national reconciliation.

By Menachem Klein October 3, 2017

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony marking 50 years of the Israeli settlement movement, Gush Etzion, West Bank, September 27, 2017. (Photo by Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

Netanyahu vows to never remove settlements. Why won’t the world believe him?

It’s as if the entire international community administered itself a potent dose of willful suspension of disbelief, enabling its leaders to ignore Bibi’s declarations that he will never take the requisite steps for peace — that he will do everything in his power to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. For years, decades actually, the world…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man September 28, 2017

Palestinian citizens take part in a general strike in solidarity with Palestinians in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza, in the northern town of Sakhnin, on October 13, 2015. (photo: Omar Sameer)

Netanyahu’s new plan: Getting rid of Israel’s Palestinians

Netanyahu’s proposal to revoke citizenship from tens of thousands of Arab citizens is yet another calculated move meant to absolve Israel of responsibility for the fate of its native population. By Marzuq Al-Halabi The idea of territorial or population swaps as part of a final-status agreement with the Palestinians is not new. Many have previously propounded it,…

By +972 Magazine July 31, 2017