Feb. 19: Two States Are the Only Solution In Mideast

By Sylvia Gurinsky

A one-state solution in the Middle East is impossible. Period.

Not only would lumping Israelis and Palestinians together undermine Israel's identity as the Jewish state and Palestinians' right to a nation of their own, but it would lead to new conflicts from which there would be no end.

Those who are talking about a one-state solution argue the two-state solution doesn't work. They forget there haven't really been two states.

First of all, there has been no official Palestinian state. There is currently the two-sectioned stalemate controlled by Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has its own problems, with a government that threatens to turn increasingly racist and sexist towards the Arab population within its own borders, not to mention toward members of the Jewish population, such as women and those who are not religious. Civil conflict within Israel's Jewish community is not out of the realm of possibility.

One-state advocates expect these groups to live together in peace? They're dreaming.

The only positive thing the one-state idea might do is make a two-state solution more palatable to those who have opposed it so far. If that happens, then the one-state theory has served a viable purpose. The goal should still be two nations, two countries - and one hope for peace between them.