Could A Unified, Binational Israel Work?

 #356: How Might It Come About

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Thanks to Lit Hub I was able to avoid the NYRB's paywall and read Omri Boehm's article about prospects for settling the Palestinian/Israeli situation.

It's hard to know whether the prospects for a 2-state solution are indeed as grim as the article contends.  If so, it seems equally unlikely that Israelis would agree to a unitary state that encompasses all of Israeli and Palestinian lands, assuming this means Israeli voters are eventually outnumbered by Palestinians.

Which would suggest there's no hope for the near future, unless, of course, compromises were possible.  Here's an outsider's notion of what compromise might look like:

First, the near-term is impossible; there really is little hope.  Instead, it might help to imagine a distant future by which time a gradual cooling of tensions could possibly end in peace.  If that future was, say 2100, and the time between now and then was spent preparing, rather than in fighting, a unified nation, composed of several generations who had grown up under this unfolding process might be in the cards.

Until then, all manner of cooperation would be called for to negotiate a relationship between a state and its intended.  Obviously, Palestinians would require a quasi-state for themselves, but one that was temporary.  Otherwise, a few possibilities:

An Education-Weighted Legislative Body For Palestinians.

A Palestinian Authority that is based on education-weighted voting (higher ed degrees would carry greater voting weight than would elementary ed; plus, educational opportunity would be expanded for all).  Incentivizing educational attainment could go a long way toward alleviating Israeli fears.  

Also, female leadership would be guaranteed a certain percentage of seats in a transitional legislative body.  Again, this would emphasize the importance of a gradual transition towards a cosmopolitan Palestinian outlook.

A Phased, Long-term Shift.

Rule of law, voting rights, and military conscription, for example, are gradually introduced for all non-Israeli Palestinians "between the river and the sea", with the process ending in 2100 with full integration.  Negotiations in the meantime concern a timetable and an unfolding process.

Palestinians Are Asked To Approve Any Deal.

A plebiscite open to all non-Israeli Palestinians within the nascent nation-state would be held in a number of years to approve this transitional process after initial negotiations to write up the question to be posed.

Update: Dec. 25th '23:  This blog entry has been totally rewritten.