Israel-Gaza war: is a two-state, two-economy solution still possible?

For some people, the bloody war in Gaza may have shattered the 35-year consensus that the only feasible solution to the region’s troubles is to have two states, Israel and Palestine, living peaceably side by side. Yet, others suggest that the horrors we have witnessed since October 7 could augur the revival of that very goal.

In recent statements, American, Palestinian and Arab officials have all stressed that a two-state solution must emerge phoenix-like from the ashes of this war. Reasonable people everywhere can only hope that this might still provide the framework for a definitive and mutually agreed end to a century-old struggle.

The timing of this renewed interest is ironic. November is when Palestinians commemorate the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO’s) 1988 Declaration of Independence, which was adopted from exile in Algeria at the height of the first intifada, or uprising. All Palestinian factions – including the most radical of the period – accepted the partition of Palestine and Israel’s de facto existence within pre-1967 borders.