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A One-State Solution?
(New York Post) Amir Taheri - The recent Harvard conference raised the profile of a new industry to promote a "one-state solution" to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The idea is that Israel, Gaza and the West Bank should become a single state for both Arabs and Jews. In the early decades of the 20th century, as Jews started migrating en masse to their ancient homeland and building their state, Arabs regarded Palestine (Ottoman provinces controlled by Britain after World War I) as just another chunk of their territory and rejected the idea of a distinct Palestinian people. Syria claimed that Palestine had always been part of its territory. Iraq sought Palestine for access to the Mediterranean. Egypt believed that, as the most populous Arab state, it should annex Palestine. And Trans-Jordan (later Jordan), a state carved out of the largest chunk of Palestine by Britain for its Arab clients from neighboring Hejaz, hoped to absorb the remainder. Why would anyone promote a one-state solution when majorities both in Israel and among Palestinians seek a two-state one? Because the one-state solution is not a solution at all: It's a cover for a hidden agenda to deny Israel's right to exist. The advocates of a one-state solution are in Tehran and in U.S. universities, including Harvard - but not in Israel or the Palestinian territories.