Analysis of a Novel Solution to the Israel-Palestine Conflict
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Date
2022-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
The Israel-Palestine Conflict (IPC) is one of the most long standing and intractable conflicts in the world. Prospects for peace have reached new lows in recent years after the failure of the Oslo Accords. This failed peace process, like most other attempts at resolving this conflict, was based on the two-state solution (TSS) and on the principle of partition. Partition has been proposed regularly as a solution to the conflict for nearly one hundred years, but it has not been successful at securing peace. There are two main historical alternatives to partition: the secular one-state solution (OSS), and the power-sharing solutions (PSS). Both have been extensively studied and debated, but neither offer a promising path to resolution.
Times like these, when no solution is in sight, might seem to call for compromise and 'lowest common denominator' thinking: at a minimum, just find a way to stop the killing. While any armistice would be welcome, I take the opposite approach. In my view the conflict can never end without a clear vision of post-conflict peace. The chosen solution must be both effective and desirable. An effective solution must stop both the war and low-level violence, and must promote political freedom. In doing so, it fosters security, equality, and good governance. The solution must also be desirable from a high-level normative standpoint. It must provide answers to questions regarding abstract issues such as self-determination and liberalism that are satisfactory to all parties involved.
Relevant literature is full of opinion pieces and partial analyses, but none of it makes a full analysis of all three solutions along these important dimensions. Much of it focuses too much on the details of implementation rather than the larger concerns regarding desirability or efficacy of the solution type. In this paper, I conduct a large-scale, quantitative, empirical analysis on all three solution types (OSS, PSS, TSS) based on historical data, and find that none performs particularly well on any of the criteria. I dive into the abstract arguments and identify the normative flaws of each solution type, and explain why each solution is unlikely to resolve the IPC.
Responding to the weaknesses of the extant solutions, I propose a new method of ethnic conflict resolution and show how it theoretically solves or reduces the majority of the problems faced by the other three solutions when applied to the IP. However, it does not solve everything, and introduces some problems of its own. Given the novelty of the solution, including it in the quantitative analysis is impossible, and more work needs to be done in determining its feasibility.
I conclude that this method is not unreasonable, and that this new thinking provides benefits to the conflict resolution process, but, like all other solutions, it does not provide an easy path towards resolving the IPC.
Description
3rd Place in the "Domestic and International Relations" category at the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum
Nominated for Political Science Department Thesis Prize (Decision Pending)
Nominated for Political Science Department Thesis Prize (Decision Pending)
Keywords
Conflict, Ethnicity, Resolution, Palestine, Israel