Do Americans Want a Two-State Solution?
Today I wrote in the Washington Monthly that if you want a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Joe Biden is your only choice.
Donald Trump told Eric Cortellessa of Time, “I’m not sure a two-state solution anymore is gonna work.” Whereas Biden said in the State of the Union address that “The only real solution is a two-state solution over time … There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy.”
But what do American voters think?
The answer, after what’s leading the Washington Monthly website:
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For 30 years Gallup has polled the question, “Do you favor or oppose the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip?” Support for a Palestinian state has consistently won pluralities or majorities.
In the most recent Gallup poll, sampled in February, 53 percent favored a Palestinian state. The number has been at least 50 since 2019.
Pew Research Center asked a similar question February, albeit with a convoluted set of answers.
A plurality of 40 percent supported a two-state solution, with 14 percent supported a single Israeli state and 2 percent a single Palestinian state.
Pew also weirdly offered a solution in which “all of the land is one country, governed jointly by Israelis and Palestinians together.” No one of stature has offered such a plan, but it garnered 13 percent support from Pew’s respondents.
Trump, when he distanced himself from a two-state solution, did not explicitly say he embraced an Israel-friendly one-state solution. But that is what his words and past actions imply.
As president, Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. In 2020 he proposed a nominal two-state solution with borders heavily favoring Israel. Last month, while he said Israeli leaders are “losing the PR war” in the current fighting, they should still “finish what they started.” And now he says he no longer has confidence that a two-state solution is viable.
On the other end of the political spectrum are the student leaders of the various protests roiling college campuses. They are openly anti-Zionist and embrace slogans identified with Hamas such as “from the river to the sea,” arguing against the existence of an Israeli state. They represent the 2 percent of Americans who support a Palestinian-friendly one-state solution.
Biden’s consistent support of a two-state solution puts him on the side of most Americans.
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Best,
Bill
