Fewer people in both Israel and Palestine believed the two states could co-exist peacefully - even before the outbreak of war with Hamas.
Public sentiment among members of the public in both Israel and Palestinian-controlled areas was moving away from the idea of creating a two-state solution for the region, even before Hamas launched terror attacks last weekend.
Public surveys carried out in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank have revealed that only one in three people now see the feasibility of a political resolution to the issue.
People were asked if a way could be found for resolution by forming an independent Palestinian state and whether it could co-exist peacefully with Israel.
According to the Pew Research Center's survey, a growing number of Israelis are beginning to doubt the feasibility of a two-state solution, with only 35% of respondents believing that a peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine can be achieved.
This marks a 15 percentage point decrease from a decade ago, and the lowest figures to date.
Notably, the sentiment against a two-state solution has significantly shifted among the Arab Israelis compared to the Jewish Israelis.
Arab Israelis are now 33% less likely to believe in this approach compared to 2013. Their Jewish counterparts are 14% less likely to see this possibility in the same time period.
The survey was, however, conducted in April and published in September, before the Israel-Hamas war erupted following an unprecedented attack on October 7.
Palestinians do not think a two-state solution is feasible
Data available on the Palestinian side is more nuanced.
Nearly one-third of the Palestinians now express support for the two-state solution, according to a survey conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in September.
While there has been a slight increase in support for a two-state solution, a majority of Palestinians still believe it is not the way forward.
Some 67% of Palestinians oppose the two-state solution, citing settlement expansion as a key reason for their scepticism.
Plus a growing dissent against the lack of implementation of the Oslo Accords – a pair of agreements signed in 1993 to ensure the "right of the Palestinian people to self-determination" – and Israel’s use of coercion in the occupied territories has only made matters worse.
The Israeli army is preventing a peaceful resolution and the creation of a Palestinian state, Hassan Albalawi, deputy head of the Palestine mission to the European Union, told Euronews on Tuesday.
He blamed the systemic persecution of Palestinians by the Israeli authorities as the major cause of unfolding violence, citing a lack of international intervention in holding Israel accountable.
"When Israel attacks, when Israel occupies, when Israel colonises, when Israel encircles Gaza [...] with all of this, you (Europe) will say that Israel is defending itself?" he added.
That is reflected in the latest survey, showing Palestinians’ dwindling belief in negotiations as a means to form a sovereign state.
Among Palestinian civilians, 53% favour an armed struggle to establish an independent state and fight the occupation. That is a 12% rise compared to survey results from the same time in 2022.
The spike is compensated by a decrease in confidence in diplomacy and negotiations, as Palestinians now are 10% less likely to prefer it as a solution according to the same survey.
_A_Monkey on October 17th, 2023 at 15:01 UTC »
There’s been an unconstructive fatalism attached to this conflict going back over half a century. A fatalism that’s not merely a product of the events but one that’s been watered by the most extreme elements on both sides for their own personal gain.
Germany led the Central Powers and the Axis in two World Wars. A Country responsible for the deaths of more Jews than all the Arab nations that neighbor Israel combined many times over. Today they are a strong liberal democracy. A leader economically and diplomatically. A friend to many and now an advocate for peace and protections to the persecuted around the world.
Japan was part of the Axis and, at the time, were fanatical nationalists that were responsible for nearly a quarter million civilian deaths a month during WWII. More than 7 million civilian Chinese people are estimated to have been murdered by the Japanese. Today they are a peaceful, democratic country that helps provide stability and security to their region. If you go back and read accounts of the WWII era Japanese leaders and soldiers and their fanaticism to the cause you’d be hard pressed to believe the Japan we see today would ever exist.
The US and Vietnam fought a bitter war not that long ago. The rhetoric on both sides was dehumanizing and brutal. Today, while not exactly allies, the two countries are closer than ever. Vietnamese welcome American and even French tourists with open arms. People whose relatives (many still living) once subjected one another to brutal war crimes now interact happily, peacefully and cooperatively.
In this exact moment perhaps it’s too early. However, what this conflict will need, if it’s to be resolved, is more hopefulness and less fatalism. Worse atrocities and hate as hot as what we see now has been overcome before and replaced with positive outcomes far better than anyone thought imaginable at the time.
Sad_Pangolin7379 on October 17th, 2023 at 11:57 UTC »
The basic problem is the alternative to the two state solution most likely leaves the Palestinians to an existence with no real representation or freedom. They effectively become stateless and voteless, permanent noncitizens. Israel, not incidentally, also loses its claim to being a representative democracy. And this insurgency just sort of goes permanent, like that town in Pennsylvania with an underground fire just under the surface. Except, they evacuated that town...
nikostheater on October 17th, 2023 at 11:32 UTC »
Currently, no.