The old solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict don’t seem to fit the present reality.
A two-state solution feels increasingly impossible, given the scale of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Palestinian determination for a right of return. And a one-state solution, in which Israelis and Palestinians would live as equal citizens in a single state, is hard to imagine, given how strongly both peoples seek political self-determination.
But what if those aren’t the only options?
A Land for All is an Israeli-Palestinian initiative that is proposing a confederation model: two sovereign states, structured to allow freedom of movement between them. It’s a theory of peace based on neither separation nor unification. It holds, first, that both peoples have a relationship to and claim on all the land and, second, that both peoples want to control their own political destinies.
I have been — and am — skeptical of solutions to a conflict that is so devoid of the political conditions for a settlement. But even if you’re far from your destination, it’s worth knowing where it is you hope to go. So could this be an answer for both peoples? How would it handle the problems that have bedeviled previous solutions, from security and violence to religious extremism?
Rula Hardal and May Pundak are the executive directors of A Land for All. Hardal is a Palestinian citizen of Israel who received her doctorate in political science from the University of Hannover in Germany, and Pundak is an Israeli lawyer, activist and social entrepreneur. They joined me to explain how A Land for All would work and why they think it might succeed where so much else has failed.
Mentioned:
<a href="https://www.alandforall.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/booklet-english.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A Land for All plan</a>
Rula Hardal’s Book Recommendations:
<a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-holocaust-and-the-nakba/9780231182973/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Holocaust and the Nakba</a>, edited by Bashir Bashir and Amos Goldberg
<a href="https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=states-of-denial-knowing-about-atrocities-and-suffering--9780745623924" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">States of Denial</a> by Stanley Cohen
<a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/477841/israel-what-went-wrong-by-bartov-omer/9781911717690" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Israel: What Went Wrong?</a> by Omer Bartov
May Pundak’s Book Recommendations:
<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374617127/tomorrowisyesterday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tomorrow Is Yesterday</a> by Hussein Agha and Robert Malley
<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250236210/apsalmforthewildbuilt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A Psalm for the Wild-Built</a> by Becky Chambers
<a href="https://www.moomin.com/en/books/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Moomin series</a> by Tove Jansson
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast</a>. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html</a>
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris and Kelsey Lannin. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Johnny Simon. Our recording engineer is Johnny Simon. Cinematography by Marina King and Eric Laplante. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin and Emma Kehlbeck. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Shows is Annie-Rose Strasser. Transcript editing by Filipa Pajevic and Marlaine Glicksman.
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