by And Joe Biden needs to pick up where Bill Clinton left off.
On December 23, 2000, President Clinton presented a basket of ideas called “Clinton parameters,” which details how to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They are based on the principle of two nation-states for two peoples. Unfortunately, Clinton was unable to see the finished work, adding at the time, “I’ve taken this as far as I can.”
Your job now, Joe, is to take those ideas forward to forge two states for two peoples in one land. Now is the time to take bold steps that signal to Israelis and Palestinians, to the Middle East and to the world: the United States is serious about the two-state solution. Since Netanyahu will not negotiate a Palestinian state, the Palestinian Authority can be recognized as a state unilaterally.
As Israeli peace process veteran Gidi Grinstein, co-author of “(In)Sights: Peacebuilding in the Oslo process, thirty years and counting,” fair wrote in The Times of Israel: “Turning the Palestinian Authority into a state could turn the breakdown of Palestinian-Israeli relations into progress toward peaceful coexistence.”
So let me finish where I started: I completely understand why Israelis, who are attacked every day by Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, do not want to discuss a two-state solution with the Palestinians at this time. But imagining such a future, if it can be done well, is no reward for what Hamas did on October 7. It is one way – perhaps the only way – to sustainably ensure that this never happens again.
And with Gaza mired in conflict and the West Bank boiling, I realize that the Palestinians cannot call a constitutional convention. But to the extent that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah can undertake reforms that visibly improve its effectiveness and credibility as a peace partner, the rewards could be enormous. Once the guns fall silent in Gaza, we may be facing the best opportunity for a two-state solution since the collapse of Oslo.
It could also be the last.
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