One State, Two States

This book came as a disappointment. I read it immediately after completing an incredibly well written and balanced history of the 1948 war by the same author. By contrast, this work was far more of a polemic. It begins with a summary of new supporters of the one state solution, beginning with the famous essay by Tony Judt and following up with dismissive critiques of several other supporters.

What follows is an occasional summary of Israeli-Palestinian relations, with an emphasis on showing how horrifying the “one state” solution proposed by Palestinians is and how deceptive their calls for a secular single state are. He also portrays as completely marginal and radical the few figures on both the Israeli and Palestinian side who actually hope for an equal and democratic single state.

While I was willing to be persuaded by his more pragmatic arguments, I found myself increasingly revolting at his dismissiveness and myopic analyses that never addresses some of the core arguments in support of the single state (or binational as he calls it) proposals that have gained favor in recent years. The argument seemed to lose focus gradually, get more sloppy, and his final proposed solution: having Palestinian territories become part of Jordan etc. not as terribly helpful or realistic.