Watch: Israel-Palestine conflict: What’s the two-state solution?

A look at the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and where several countries stand regarding Palestine, in the context of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war

Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack in Israel and Israel’s continuing war on Gaza have brought the Palestine question back to the fore of West Asia’s geopolitics.

As the war has destroyed much of Gaza and killed 37,000 of its people, the world has also seen more and more countries voicing strong support for a future Palestine state. Recently, three European countries--Spain, Ireland and Norway--recognised the Palestine state.

More are expected to follow. Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, say there wouldn’t be lasting peace in the region unless the Palestine question is resolved. An internationally recognised solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is what’s called the two-state solution.

What’s the two-state solution?

The short answer is simple: divide historical Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state to find lasting peace. But the long answer is complicated. Israel, a Jewish state, was created in Palestine in 1948. But a Palestine state is not yet a reality. So, a two-state solution today means the creation of a legitimate, sovereign Palestine state that enjoys the full rights like any other nation state under the UN Charter.

Let’s take a look at history.

The rootsof the two-state solution go back to the 1930s of the British-ruled Palestine. In 1936, the British government appointed a commission headed by Lord William Robert Peel (known as the Peel Commission) to investigate the causes of Arab-Jewish clashes in Palestine. A year later, the commission stated that the Mandate had become unworkable and proposed a partition of Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state. At that time, Jews accounted for some 28% of Palestine’s population. According to the Peel Commission proposal, the West Bank, Gaza and Negev desert should make up the Arab state while the much of Palestine’s coast and the fertile Galilee region should be part of the Jewish state. Arabs rejected the proposal.