Many in the occupied territories see a two-state solution as unworkable because of the 480,000 Israeli settlers, writes Michael Jansen in Bil'in
THE FAILURE of negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis towards the creation of a Palestinian state has prompted some Palestinians and Israelis to consider new strategies to defend Palestinian rights and achieve peaceful coexistence.
West Bank villagers have opted for Ghandhian tactics to counter Israel's colonisation enterprise.
The village of Bil'in in the olive-growing hill region west of Ramallah is home to a movement which mounts weekly protests against Israel's wall, checkpoints and settlements which are fragmenting the West Bank.
The head of Bil'in's popular committee, Iyad Burnat, says popular groups in the West Bank seek to unite under an umbrella organisation in order to co-ordinate activities on the ground and "tell the world what is happening here".
Following an appeal from Bil'in, the Israeli high court ordered that the wall, which cuts the village off from 60 per cent of its land, should be moved. Although the military has ignored the ruling, Bil'in is pressing for implementation.
Farmers throughout the region, supported by Israeli and foreign volunteers, are also demonstrating their determination to hold on to their land by harvesting their olives. However in doing this they risk attack by settlers and arrest by Israeli troops for refusing to obtain military clearance to pick the fruit. "The West Bank has many Ghandis," siad Mr Burnat, a recent visitor to Dublin and Galway.
Many West Bankers argue that the Palestinian Authority (PA), created under the 1993 Oslo accords, should be dissolved and the Israeli occupation formally reinstated. There is widespread dissatisfaction with the corrupt and inept Fatah-dominated PA and disillusionment with its unprofitable negotiations with Israel.
"If we remove the fig leaf of the PA, the Israeli occupier will have to take responsibility for our welfare," argues a businessman. "We can demand our human and civil rights. We cannot be worse off than we are now, confined to enclaves without security from Israeli raids, democracy or a decent standard of living."
Few Palestinians believe, however, that Fatah will agree to relinquish its political and administrative posts.
While Israel and the international community see the two-state solution, a Palestinian state beside Israel, as the way ahead, an increasing number of Palestinians argue that the settlement of 480,000 Israelis in East Jerusalem and the West Bank makes this impossible.
They say the two sides should revive the idea of a democratic state where both nationalities have equal rights. This proposition was first advanced in the 1920s by Jewish intellectuals Martin Buber and Judah Magnes and adopted in 1969 by the Marxist Democratic Front and Fatah.
Ghada Karmi, author and academic, says Israel, which has displaced 4.5 million Palestinians and waged wars on its neighbours, will never be accepted in the region.
For this to happen the occupation must end and Israel should be replaced by a democratic state which is "home to present and previous inhabitants", including 1948 Palestinian refugees.
She argues that this objective could be achieved, if people "accept his as the only way forward . . . It will take a long time, a lot of work and strategic understanding. We have to make a blueprint of what it [the new state] would look like, what administrative and . . . protection mechanisms."
Karmi argues that "the two-state idea can be used in a federation with open borders" until a unitary state is established.
A dozen books proposing a democratic state have been published, including Dr Karmi's Married to Another Man. But this solution is opposed by most Israelis, who insist that Israel must remain a Jewish state, and by Palestinians who seek separationIyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
Head of Friends of Freedom and Justice in Bilin
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