A Two State Solution?

The phrase "a two state solution" has been used for years in discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to mean the creation of two states: an Israel that would be recognized and accepted as a legitimate nation by its Arab neighbors, and a state for the Palestinians.

Tragically, the Palestinians haven't seen it this way. While many believe that the terror is a reaction to Israel's control of the West Bank / Gaza and is meant just to gain Palestinian statehood, it is important to realize that:

• The PLO was founded in 1964, before Israel acquired the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, for the purpose of establishing a Palestinian Arab state in Israel

• The PLO before, and Hamas today, have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel. Words matter, and all their actions suggest that they mean what they say.

• The Palestinian leadership has preferred to let large numbers of Palestinians suffer in "temporary" refugee camps for 60 years after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, rather than let them resettle permanently. Why? Because this allows them to demand the "right of return", whereby the "refugees" can return to Israel. It is a stunningly brutal policy (aided and abetted by the UN and West who help keep the refugee camps running), reflecting the character of the Palestinian leadership - if they can do that to their own people, why shouldn't we take them at their word and believe they wish to destroy Israel?

If the Palestinians had pursued a path of peaceful protest, they would have long ago achieved an independent nation. They would have gained enormous creditability in Israel and around the world, demonstrating they can live in peace with Israel and adding to the pressure on Israel to recognize Palestinian statehood. This was the path so successfully pursued by Martin Luther King, Jr. in the cause of black civil rights.

With Hamas in charge in Gaza, the Palestinians elected a group committed to Israel's destruction, who wantonly violates the Geneva Conventions by fighting among civilians and by using schools, hospitals, and mosques as places from which to launch military attacks - for the purpose of generating civilian deaths in a propaganda battle with Israel.

So in light of this bleak history and terror, here is another version of the two-state solution.

Before Israel gained control of the West Bank and Gaza in its 1967 war with the Arabs, the West Bank was part of Jordan and Gaza part of Egypt. Both those nations have peace treaties with Israel. For years, people have pressured Israel to return to is pre-1967 borders - with the implication that the Palestinians would then have their nation in West Bank and Gaza.

But another interpretation of a return to the pre-1967 borders is for the West Bank to return to Jordan and Gaza to Egypt.

Israel would then be at peace with its neighbors, and Palestinians would be governed by Arabs.

Sounds like a just outcome to me.