In advance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington next week, the Knesset’s passage of legislation opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state was an unnecessary political exercise that will harm Israel’s global standing and add fuel to rising U.S.-Israel tensions.
The legislation calling the creation of a Palestinian state an “existential danger” passed with a majority of 68 votes in the 120-seat Knesset, with only nine opposing votes. Rather than making a Knesset speech reiterating that now is not the time for two states but that avoiding a one-state outcome is critical to Israel’s future, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Amid faction — which publicly supports two states — skipped the vote, and Benny Gantz, who has advocated for separation and a Palestinian “entity” rather than state, voted in favor.
It is understandable that Israelis are hardened against the idea of a two-state solution in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. Israelis have been scarred by demonstrations of support for the attacks among Palestinians and have lost hope that enough Palestinians want to live alongside the State of Israel rather than eliminate it. The Palestinian Authority is corrupt, unpopular and incapable of serving as the basis for a successful state today. The war in Gaza continues, hostages remain held captive, clashes with Hezbollah are escalating along Israel’s northern border and attacks in the West Bank are on the rise.
Meanwhile, settlements in the West Bank have exponentially grown with newly empowered far-right ministers openly advocating for a collapse of the P.A., annexation of the West Bank, and even resettlement of Gaza.
Even prior to the Hamas attacks, the prospects for achieving a two-state solution were diminishing. After the attacks, moreso.
That is why no one is trying to “impose” a two-state solution on Israel today, though Gideon Saar, chairman of the party that put forward this resolution, made that claim. Moreover, if a future Israeli government were to successfully negotiate the establishment of a two-state solution, it would inevitably be subject to Knesset approval.
The standard line about Israel extending its hand for peace and the Palestinian side being the ones never willing to compromise is Israel’s most potent diplomatic weapon, and the Knesset vote throws that away unilaterally at the worst possible time.
The vote was not needed but it ultimately serves Netanyahu’s political interests.
With his political future in doubt — a recent poll indicated that 72 percent of Israelis think Netanyahu should resign because of the failures to protect Israel’s security on Oct. 7 — Netanyahu is returning to his playbook of stoking fears of an imposed two-state solution that only he can prevent by standing up to the United States and the international community. The vote taking place right before his Washington visit provides red meat and reassurance to his base at a time when he is facing heightened pressure from his far-right coalition partners to oppose a hostage deal with Hamas that would bring the war to a close.
But while the vote may score political points for Netanyahu, it harms Israel’s diplomacy in the region and relations with the U.S.
Any path to a resolution of the conflict today would require rebuilding Gaza, working to establish trust between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, revitalizing Palestinian governance, reforming education systems, reimagining security arrangements, effectively countering terrorism and extremism, and building a regional architecture to support and sustain the path to ending the conflict. In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, Israel had been in a position to gain support from the United States and its partners in the international community for all of the critical steps above and more, so long as these efforts were geared toward an eventual political horizon based on two states. But the Knesset vote sends a message that Israel is opposed to a Palestinian state under any terms or circumstances whatsoever.
The absence of any realistic or viable alternative to two states places Israel on course for perpetual conflict and unending control over millions of Palestinians as stateless subjects in the West Bank and Gaza, threatening Israel’s security and existence as a Jewish and democratic state. That is why so many former Israeli political and security officials have long warned that it is the absence of any hope to resolve the conflict, not Palestinian statehood, that breeds support for terrorism and represents an existential danger. Even as two states are impossible to achieve and implement today, the goal remains too important to give up on.
Since Oct. 7, administration officials from President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken on down have emphasized the goal of an eventual two-state outcome, as they have worked on the parameters of a deal to attain a ceasefire in the war in Gaza that would free the hostages held by Hamas. Such a deal, which the president has been pushing for months, is also a critical step toward reaching an Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement, a long-standing Israeli interest that would bring many benefits to Israel and could even form the basis for a regional anti-Iran coalition of Arab states that could also play an important role in a post-war Gaza. But the Saudis have repeatedly declared that meaningful steps toward Palestinian statehood are a prerequisite for normalization.
Coming just days before Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, Democrats will rightly interpret the timing of the Knesset vote as a jab at the Biden Administration’s ongoing diplomatic efforts in the region, adding fuel to an already growing partisan divide in Washington when it comes to Israel.
Some Democrats are likely to respond to the vote with a shrug as more of the same from an increasingly frustrating ally and some will be more inclined to support conditioning aid and withholding U.S. backing for Israel in international fora. Ironically, efforts to impose terms on Israel are more likely to grow as a result.
Israel’s prime minister should be utilizing his visit and speech to Congress to reinforce the bipartisan strength of US-Israel relations at a time when U.S.-Israel cooperation and U.S. support for Israel’s security are so clearly essential to Israel’s interests. In a video call with American Jewish leaders earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew expressed his hope that Netanyahu’s visit would reinforce the importance of bipartisanship and provide a unifying message. The vote in the Knesset does not bode well for either. It pointlessly adds more uncertainty to the trajectory of the U.S.-Israel relationship, of Palestinian national aspirations, and of Israel’s future as a secure, Jewish, and democratic state.