UCan a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine still see the light of day, and under what conditions would it be viable? A word of optimism first: there are in Israel as in Palestine numerous citizen movements for peace which defend peaceful and democratic solutions with tenacity and imagination. These groups are unfortunately in the minority, and without powerful external support they have little chance of winning.
To break the deadlock, it is time for the European Union and the United States, which between them absorb nearly 70% of Israeli exports, to align their actions with their speeches. If Western governments truly support the two-state solution, then sanctions must be imposed on the Israeli government, which is openly trampling on any peaceful perspective by continuing colonization and repression and opposing recognition of the Palestinian state.
Concretely, military aid must stop, and above all the United States and Europe must hit Netanyahu and his allies. This involves the implementation of commercial and financial sanctions gradually reaching dissuasive amounts. The university boycott mentioned in universities will not be enough and may even prove counterproductive: it is often on campuses that the main opponents of the Israeli right are found, which in many cases will be happy to weaken them and cut them from the outside. Along with sanctions against Israel, Europe and the United States must implement implacable and dissuasive sanctions against Hamas and its external supporters, and decisively strengthen representative and democratic Palestinian organizations. .
Huge challenges
This significant external involvement, which ideally should bring together Western countries and a coalition of Southern countries, is all the more essential as no two-state solution can see the light of day without a strong confederal structure – a form of Israeli union. -Palestinian, similar to the European Union for European States – covering the two States and making it possible to guarantee a certain number of fundamental rights. The two territories and populations are in fact deeply entangled, both due to the extent of Jewish colonization in the West Bank, the importance of Palestinian workers carrying out their activity in Israel and maintaining family ties with Israeli Arabs, and of the non-contiguity of the Palestinian territories.
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