The New York Times January 22, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
The One-State Solution
By MUAMMAR QADDAFI
Tripoli, Libya
www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22qaddafi.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=print

THE shocking level of the last wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, which
ended with this weekend's cease-fire, reminds us why a final resolution to
the so-called Middle East crisis is so important. It is vital not just to
break this cycle of destruction and injustice, but also to deny the
religious extremists in the region who feed on the conflict an excuse to
advance their own causes.

But everywhere one looks, among the speeches and the desperate diplomacy,
there is no real way forward. A just and lasting peace between Israel and
the Palestinians is possible, but it lies in the history of the people of
this conflicted land, and not in the tired rhetoric of partition and
two-state solutions.

Although it's hard to realize after the horrors we've just witnessed, the
state of war between the Jews and Palestinians has not always existed. In
fact, many of the divisions between Jews and Palestinians are recent ones.
The very name "Palestine" was commonly used to describe the whole area, even
by the Jews who lived there, until 1948, when the name "Israel" came into
use.

Jews and Muslims are cousins descended from Abraham. Throughout the
centuries both faced cruel persecution and often found refuge with one
another. Arabs sheltered Jews and protected them after maltreatment at the
hands of the Romans and their expulsion from Spain in the Middle Ages.

The history of Israel/Palestine is not remarkable by regional standards - a
country inhabited by different peoples, with rule passing among many tribes,
nations and
ethnic groups; a country that has withstood many wars and waves of peoples
from all directions. This is why it gets so complicated when members of
either party claims the right to assert that it is their land.

The basis for the modern State of Israel is the persecution of the Jewish
people, which is undeniable. The Jews have been held captive, massacred,
disadvantaged in every possible fashion by the Egyptians, the Romans, the
English, the Russians, the Babylonians, the Canaanites and, most recently,
the Germans under Hitler.

The Jewish people want and deserve their homeland.

But the Palestinians too have a history of persecution, and they view the
coastal towns of Haifa, Acre, Jaffa and others as the land of their
forefathers, passed from generation to generation, until only a short time
ago.

Thus the Palestinians believe that what is now called Israel forms part of
their nation, even were they to secure the West Bank and Gaza. And the Jews
believe that the West Bank is Samaria and Judea, part of their homeland,
even if a Palestinian state were established there. Now, as Gaza still
smolders, calls for a two-state
solution or partition persist. But neither will work.

A two-state solution will create an unacceptable security threat to Israel.
An armed Arab state, presumably in the West Bank, would give Israel less
than 10 miles of strategic depth at its narrowest point. Further, a
Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would do little to
resolve the problem of refugees. Any situation that keeps the majority of
Palestinians in refugee camps and does not offer a solution within the
historical borders of Israel/Palestine is not a solution at all.

For the same reasons, the older idea of partition of the West Bank into
Jewish and Arab areas, with buffer zones between them, won't work. The
Palestinian-held areas could not accommodate all of the refugees, and buffer
zones symbolize exclusion and breed tension. Israelis and Palestinians have
also become increasingly intertwined, economically and politically.

In absolute terms, the two movements must remain in perpetual war or a
compromise must be reached. The compromise is one state for all, an
"Isratine" that
would allow the people in each party to feel that they live in all of the
disputed land and they are not deprived of any one part of it.

A key prerequisite for peace is the right of return for Palestinian refugees
to the homes their families left behind in 1948. It is an injustice that
Jews who were not originally inhabitants of Palestine, nor were their
ancestors, can move in from abroad while Palestinians who were displaced
only a relatively short time ago should not be so permitted.

It is a fact that Palestinians inhabited the land and owned farms and homes
there until recently, fleeing in fear of violence at the hands of Jews after
1948 - violence that did not occur, but rumors of which led to a mass
exodus. It is important to note that the Jews did not forcibly expel
Palestinians. They were never "un-welcomed." Yet only the full territories
of Isratine can accommodate all the refugees and bring about the justice
that is key to peace.

Assimilation is already a fact of life in Israel. There are more than one
million Muslim Arabs in Israel; they possess Israeli nationality and take
part in political life with the Jews, forming political parties. On the
other side, there are Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Israeli
factories depend on Palestinian labor, and goods and services are exchanged.
This successful assimilation can be a model for Isratine.

If the present interdependence and the historical fact of Jewish-Palestinian
coexistence guide their leaders, and if they can see beyond the horizon of
the recent
violence and thirst for revenge toward a long-term solution, then these two
peoples will come to realize, I hope sooner rather than later, that living
under one roof is the only option for a lasting peace.
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Muammar Qaddafi is the leader of Libya.