Oren Yiftachel

Professor Oren Yiftachel teaches political geography and urban studies at Ben-Gurion University, Beersheba. He has worked for decades in human rights and social justice organizations, including serving as Chair of 'B'tselem – monitoring human rights in the Palestinian Territories'; and working as a planner with the Regional Council of Unrecognized Bedouin Villages. He has recently co-founded an Palestinian-Israeli peace movement "A Land for All – 2 states 1 homeland".

2015

A New Horizon for Peace: An Israel-Palestine Union

By Oren Yiftachel | October 26, 2015

In light of the total deadlock on the question of Palestine, a group of Israelis and Palestinians is developing an original vision of peace, which under the current circumstance is becoming more relevant than ever: “two states, one homeland.”

Following Netanyahu’s return to power, a sense of despair engulfed the peace camp in Israel, Palestine, and beyond. Indeed, the Likud Party’s policy of strongly supporting Jewish colonization of the West Bank and recent vicious Israeli attacks on Gaza make peace based on the two-state solution seem like a disappearing mirage. Deep divisions among the Palestinians and waves of Hamas-inspired violence against Israeli civilians further this impression. Moreover, even if a Palestinian state is miraculously established in the near future, it is likely to become a small “ghetto state” with severely limited sovereignty and a source of constant grievance. Further, the “divorce” model between Israel and Palestine is likely to heighten conflict over core issues such as Jerusalem (to be redivided), settlements (to be mostly forcefully removed, causing havoc in Jewish society), the Palestinian right of return (to be ignored, causing major tensions in Palestinian society), and the status of the Palestinians in Israel (to remain dangerously marginal).