How the Palestinians can help themselves achieve statehood

The Israel-Hamas war has reignited calls for the two-state solution. Since October 7, the United States and the European Union have both ramped up their insistence on the two-state solution as the key to peace. Spain, Norway and Ireland granted recognition to the so-called State of Palestine several months after October 7. Countless pundits, academics and others tout the two-state solution as the best way to end the conflict.

Those focusing on the two-state solution since October 7 typically blame the Israeli government as the main obstacle to Palestinian statehood. If only the Israelis would accept Palestinian statehood, they argue, then the conflict would end and Israel could live in peace. The US, the EU and the international community constantly place the onus on Israel to advance the two-state solution. The burden, they argue, rests squarely on Israel’s shoulders to take the necessary steps to achieve Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

But what about the Palestinians? Do they have any responsibility to advance the two-state solution? Should they bear any of the burden? The answer clearly must be yes.

If the Palestinians truly want the two-state solution, their leadership should make two bold pronouncements to end the current stalemate and restart direct talks with the Israelis. First, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas should offer to sign a peace treaty with Israel on Day One of the new Palestinian state’s existence. Second, Abbas should make a public request to the Arab League to urge newly-elected Iranian reformist president Masoud Pezeshkian to endorse the Arab Peace Initiative (including the two-state solution) and UN Security Council Resolution 242.

Both steps would offer much-needed assurance to Israel that a Palestinian state would not simply become the newest member of the Iranian Axis of Resistance, but instead would live in peace side-by-side with Israel.

Most Israelis would welcome an offer from Abbas to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Such an offer would cost the Palestinians nothing and would bring them enormous political and economic benefits. World leaders would applaud Abbas’s statesmanship. Foreign investors and donor nations would flock to send billions to the new state. Palestinian and Israeli entrepreneurs would be unleashed to make money together. Offering a peace treaty would go a long way toward reassuring Israelis of the future State of Palestine’s desire to live side-by-side with Israel in peace.

Asking Iran to endorse the Arab Peace Initiative, the two-state solution and Resolution 242 will obviously be a much harder lift, even with the new reformist government. Moreover, the Ayatollah Khamenei has the final word in Iranian foreign policy, and he is unlikely to rescind his daily calls for Israel’s destruction anytime soon. Thus, the Iranians would likely reject any such request, because endorsing the Arab Peace Initiative, the two-state solution and 242 would mean recognizing both Israel’s right to exist and Israel’s “right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”

But that should not deter the Palestinians from pressing Iran. If Iran were to endorse the Arab Peace Initiative, the two-state solution and Resolution 242, then the Palestinians would have a strong argument to counter the Netanyahu government’s legitimate concern that the two-state solution will not stop the Iranian quest to destroy Israel, or that Iran would quickly adopt the Palestinian state as the newest member of its Axis of Resistance.

Israelis take very seriously Iran’s longstanding threats to destroy their country. They fear Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles capable of delivering those weapons. They have watched Iran surround Israel with massively armed Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthi proxies. And they experienced an unprecedented Iranian missile and drone attack on their country last April. Israelis can rightly ask themselves why they should take any chances on Palestinian statehood if that state were to become another Iranian proxy like Lebanon, Yemen or Syria.

Palestinian leaders should understand these Israeli fears and do whatever they can to mitigate them by publicly urging the Arab League to press Iran to endorse the Arab Peace Initiative (including two-state solution) and Resolution 242. This would serve Palestinian interests by helping remove the Iranian threat as a basis for Israel’s reluctance to agree to Palestinian statehood.

The ball is in your court, President Abbas. For the sake of your people, please do something bold and imaginative to help them realize their aspirations, and to reassure Israel of your peaceful intentions.