ISRAEL and PALESTINE Two States for Two Peoples If Not Now, When? BOSTON STUDY GROUP ON MIDDLE EAST PEACE Alan Berger Harvey Cox Herbert C. Kelman Lenore G. Martin Everett Mendelsohn Augustus Richard Norton Henry Steiner Stephen M. Walt ISRAEL AND PALESTINE Two States for Two Peoples If Not Now, When? by the Boston Study Group on Middle East Peace Contents Preface . ii Brief Biographical Sketches . .iii Policy Statement of Boston Study Group on Middle East Peace . 1 Palestinian Refugees Herbert C. Kelman and Lenore G. Martin . .15 West Bank Settlements and Borders Henry Steiner . 23 Jerusalem Harvey Cox . 38 The Challenge of Mutual Security Stephen M. Walt . 45 The Right Time, As Ever Alan Berger . 51 U .S . Presidents and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Augustus Richard Norton . .57 Timeline and Glossary of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict & Peacemaking Everett Mendelsohn . .75 PREFACE The Boston Study Group on Middle East Peace started its regular meetings in September 2008. Its members all have a strong interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some have been intensely engaged with this subject for decades. Others have closely followed the conflict within the context of their professional work in conflict resolution, international law and international relations, religion and U.S. foreign policy. The biographical sketches note the principal career work of each author that is relevant to this report. The group’s principal contribution is the jointly written policy statement entitledIsrael and Palestine—Two States for Two People: If Not Now, When? The statement stands as a collegial, collective enterprise that represents a consensus view of the group. Prior to drafting the policy statement, each member undertook to research and write a background paper on one of the topics integral to our policy statement. The group as a whole discussed drafts of each of these seven papers (now chapters in this report), thereby benefiting each other with respect to both substance and organization. In the end, the authors determined the text of their own papers, which therefore represent individual contributions; all members of the group do not necessarily agree in all important respects. Hence an author’s name appears on each chapter. The group profited greatly from meetings or telephone conversations on the themes of its statement with Bernard Avishai, James Carroll, Naomi Chazan, Flynt Leverett, Daniel Levy, Emile Nakhleh, Robert Malley, Lucy Nusseibeh, Itamar Rabinovich, Mara Rudman, Khalil Shikaki, Mohammad Shtayyeh and Stephen Van Evera. We are grateful for the insights they offered, but none is responsible for the final text. Boston Study Group on Middle East Peace Alan Berger Harvey Cox Herbert C. Kelman Lenore G. Martin Everett Mendelsohn Augustus Richard Norton Henry Steiner Stephen M. Walt March 2010 Israel and Palestine—Two States for Two Peoples: If Not Now, When? ii Short Biographical Sketches Alan Berger, an editorial writer at the Boston Globe, has been writing about the Middle East and Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking efforts since 1982. He has interviewed many of the principals and policymakers. And has not yet lost hope. Harvey Cox is Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard University. He teaches courses on religion and society in the Divinity School and in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, among them a course on the history, religion and culture of the city of Jerusalem. He has worked with the Middle-East Peace Program of the World Council of Churches, and has lectured at both Jewish and Palestinian institutions in Israel. Herbert C. Kelman is Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus, and co-chair of the Middle East Seminar at Harvard University. He was the founding Director (1993–2003) of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. A pioneer in the development of interactive problem solving, he has been engaged for nearly 40 years in efforts toward the resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Lenore G. Martin is the Wyant Professor at Emmanuel College in Boston. She is co-Chair of the Middle East Seminar co-sponsored by Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Her publications analyze national security in the Gulf, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the larger Middle East and Turkey. She researches, lectures and travels throughout the Middle East and Turkey. Everett Mendelsohn is Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at Harvard University. For more than forty years he has been actively involved in Israeli-Arab/Palestinian peace making first as chair of the Middle East program of the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) and then as Chair of the Middle East Program of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ program on International Security. He is author/co-author of A Compassionate Peace: A Future for Israel, Palestine and the Middle East (1982, rev. ed.1989); Israeli-Palestinian Security: Issues in the Permanent Status Negotiations (1995). Augustus Richard Norton is a Professor in the Departments of International Relations and Anthropology at Boston University, and Visiting Professor in the Politics of the Middle East at the University of Oxford. He served for a dozen years on the United States Military Academy faculty, and was a career Army officer, retiring as a Colonel. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and in 2006 was an adviser to the Iraq Study Group (“Baker-Hamilton Commission”). His most recent book is Hezbollah: A Short History (Princeton University Press, 2009). He has on-the-ground research experience in eight Middle East countries, including Egypt, Israel, Iraq and Lebanon, as well as Gaza and the West Bank. Henry Steiner, Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Professor Emeritus at Harvard Law School, founded the School’s Human Rights Program and directed it for 21 years. His writing addresses a broad range of international human rights issues. Steiner has taught courses and lectured in over 30 countries, including Israel, the West Bank-Gaza, and three Arab states. Stephen M. Walt is Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a contributing editor at Foreign Policy magazine. His recent writings include Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy (2005) and (with John Mearsheimer), The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007). His daily weblog can be found at http://walt.foreignpolicy.com. Israel and Palestine—Two States for Two Peoples: If Not Now, When? iii ISRAEL AND PALESTINE Two States for Two Peoples If Not Now, When? Policy Statement of the Boston Study Group on Middle East Peace A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is of compelling interest to the United States. It offers the only realistic prospect for lasting peace and attainable justice for Israelis and Palestinians. It offers clear and substantial benefits to Americans, Palestinians and Israelis, as well as to most of the other states in the region. ■ For Americans, a two-state solution would eliminate one of the grievances that feeds radical extremism throughout the Arab and Islamic worlds. It would fulfill pledges that U.S. President Barack Obama made during his historic June 2009 Cairo speech to the Muslim world, and it would enhance the U.S. position throughout the region and around the globe. An end to the conflict would also help fulfill America’s long- standing commitment to Israel’s survival and its commitment to Palestinian self- determination. ■ For Palestinians, obtaining their own state means an end to more than four decades of occupation, acknowledgment of their past suffering, the fulfillment of their national aspirations and an opportunity to shape their own destiny at last. ■ For Israelis, a two-state solution ends the demographic challenge to Israel’s character as a Jewish-majority state, removes the stigma of being an occupying power, enables a lasting peace with the entire Arab world and eliminates a critical barrier to full international acceptance. The benefits of a two-state solution are incontestable, and genuine progress must be achieved Israel and Palestine—Two States for Two Peoples: If Not Now, When? Policy Statement/2 quickly. Continuing the status quo—fruitless negotiations, Palestinian divisions and the steady expansion of Israeli settlements—may soon make it impossible to create two states for two peoples. The result would be the latest in a long line of tragedies: extremists on both sides would be vindicated; America’s image would suffer, complicating foreign policy in a crucial region; Israel would cease to be a democratic and Jewish-majority state and be condemned as an apartheid society; and the Palestinians would continue to suffer in poverty and powerlessness. Therefore, achievement of a two-state solution should be a top foreign-policy priority for the United States. Although many observers look at past failures and despair of future progress, there is now widespread recognition that a two-state solution is the only outcome consistent with the principles of attainable justice. Accordingly, this policy statement makes the case for strong U.S. action to bring about a two- state solution sooner rather than later. Part I describes the basic elements of a two-state solution. Part II considers the possible alternatives and shows why they are unacceptable. Part III examines the political context of negotiations and summarizes the current positions of Palestinians, Israelis and Americans. Part IV outlines why achieving two states for two peoples is vital to U.S. foreign policy and security, and the Conclusion explains why the Obama Administration must use its full influence on both parties to bring about a fair and final settlement. I. FRAMING A TWO-STATE SOLUTION The basic elements of a two-state solution are now well established and widely, though not universally, accepted by Palestinians, Israelis and many states in the Middle East.