Israel and Palestine: The One-State Solution

[Torie]

How can Israel remain 1) a Jewish state, 2) a democracy, and 3) one state that takes in all of Palestine? It's untenable. And thus it will never happen. But Israel seems not that upset with the status quo. It essentially runs the West Bank, with no issue of having to worry about issues 1) and 2).

[Torie]

It's untenable. And thus it will never happen.

I don't think the latter conclusion necessarily follows the former one.

Then Israel is in deep sh*t.

[Torie]

It's untenable. And thus it will never happen.

I don't think the latter conclusion necessarily follows the former one.

Then Israel is in deep sh*t.

People outside of Israel have been saying that since it's birth.  Many of them hoping for it, some of them actively working towards it.  Israel has done just fine, great even.  Yeah, their future might not be as secure as the US or, say, Japan, but one could fairly easy make the argument that they are the most secure country within 1500 miles of Tel Aviv (except Italy).


(I'm not saying one can't make good arguments for other countries being more secure, one certainly can....Turkey ain't going anywhere for example)

You don't think Israel has a real problem if it annexes the West Bank? As I said, I think the status quo works for Israel reasonably well. And I don't think the West Bank leaders really want an independent state. They certainly don't act like it. At some point, they may change their mind.

[Torie]

It's untenable. And thus it will never happen.

I don't think the latter conclusion necessarily follows the former one.

Then Israel is in deep sh*t.

People outside of Israel have been saying that since it's birth.  Many of them hoping for it, some of them actively working towards it.  Israel has done just fine, great even.  Yeah, their future might not be as secure as the US or, say, Japan, but one could fairly easy make the argument that they are the most secure country within 1500 miles of Tel Aviv (except Italy).


(I'm not saying one can't make good arguments for other countries being more secure, one certainly can....Turkey ain't going anywhere for example)

You don't think Israel has a real problem if it annexes the West Bank? As I said, I think the status quo works for Israel reasonably well. And I don't think the West Bank leaders really want an independent state. They certainly don't act like it. At some point, they may change their mind.

Oh, I may have been confused.  I was arguing they're secure if the status quo remains.  (hell, they'd be secure even if the Palestinians got their sh**t together and actually decided to make a functioning state) I don't know what would happen if they actually tried to legally annex the west bank.  The rest of the world would be angry, but likely not angry enough to actually do anything substantial about it.  There would certainly be more action locally, but the locals don't do military things well.  In the long term (50+ years) it would probably be the best outcome for everybody involved, but it would be very bloody for the first few years.

But Israel isn't going to do that.

Assuming Israel remained a democracy, the one state in not that long a period, would vote to cease to be a Jewish state, and from there ... well I don't want to even think about that. That is why the whole thing is untenable.

[Torie]

Israel + West Bank (but no Gaza) would still be a Jewish majority, I believe.  But that would still probably be untenable.  A "one state solution" would presumably lead to civil war.

Yeah, the Orthodox birth rate and the Arab birth rate would balance each other out, I think. However, the growing dependence on the Orthodox would dramatically change Israel in itself.

is that really the case currently? Doesn't the West Bank have one of the highest fertility rates in the world, with Gaza the highest?