What Would A Unified Israel-Palestine Look Like?

For decades, Israelis and Palestinians have been locked in a seemingly endless battle
over a slice of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
In the simplest terms, both of these groups claim ownership of this land in its entirely,
resulting in decades of uprisings, wars and failed peace negotiations.
Today, the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are generally considered Palestinian territories.
However since the late 1960’s, more and more Israelis have moved into the West Bank—
forming huge, closed off communities.
These Israeli settlements not only keep Palestinians from what is regarded as their land, but they
increasingly muddy the boundaries of any potential Palestinian state.
Since the 1970’s, the only widely accepted solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
was to establish two fully independent countries - Palestine would get Gaza and the West Bank,
Israel would get everything else.
However, many on both sides are seeing the two-state solution as impossible.
Dividing existing settlements against existing border lines is much harder to negotiate in
practice than as a political solution.
It also creates a more central problem of how to divide the city of Jerusalem, which
has both Muslim, Jewish and Christian holy sites scattered across it.
With a two-state solution looking increasingly unlikely, more and more politicians are discussing
the possibility of a ‘one state solution’ - that is, combing the Israeli and Palestinian
territories into a single nation.
One version is called “bi-nationalism” where both territories are combined as one
country, but each group maintains its ethnic and cultural individuality.
Another, proposed by some right wing Israelis, is the complete annexation of the West Bank
and East Jerusalem by Israel.
A 2016 poll suggested that roughly 36 percent of Palestinians support a one state solution,
up from 32 percent just three months earlier.
Experts say this reflects a growing sense of hopelessness among palestinians that the
two sides will never agree, and a belief that Israeli settlements have already created a
de-facto single state.
With the two-state solution looking increasingly impractical, many are asking, what would a
single, Israeli-Palestinian nation look like?
Well, if it were to happen today, it would be home to slightly more Arabs than Jews..
If this gap were to widen it would jeopardize Israel’s identity as an explicitly “Jewish
State”.
In another scenario, the newly unified state could remain Jewish, but only by denying Palestinians
the right to vote, initiating what many have called an ‘apartheid state’.
In the words of former Secretary of State John Kerry, Israel “can either be Jewish
or Democratic; it cannot be both.”
Even if a unified Israel-Palestine did guarantee equal rights, it would likely still face major
problems.
Israelis and Palestinians have a different language, culture and traditions, not to mention
a radically different understanding of history.
Experts say that a one-state solution could mean endless battles over control for everything
from public art, to schools, to street names.
Others predict that the hypothetical state’s economy could collapse.
Taxes may be raised to account for lower-income Palestinians, and this could result is a mass
exodus of Israeli tech companies and social elite.
With prospects of a peaceful, unified nation seemingly impossible, the United Nations and
much of the international community continues to push for a separate Israel and Palestine.
However with more than half a million Israelis now living in the West Bank, this goal is
increasing looking like a pipe dream.
Jews and Arabs have been fighting over what is today Israel-Palestine for more than a
century.
So what is the conflict about is the first place?
Find out in the video.
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What Would A Unified Israel-Palestine Look Like?

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