Israel-Palestine, a binational state in the making
A formula for a binational state is de facto being implemented as undeclared policy by Israel, and the Palestinians are preparing for a binational state process.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is contemplating an important policy change on the Palestinian issue. From his 2009 Bar Ilan speech to the peace talks led by US Secretary of State John Kerry, the leader of the Israeli right has supported a two-state solution. The revisionist Zionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky surely turned in his grave, while Netanyahu's ideological partners in the Likud could hardly believe their ears. The US administration, not to mention the Palestinians, was also initially suspicious of his intensions.
Yet during recent secret talks with Kerry, Netanyahu showed surprising flexibility on the issue of the borders of a future Palestinian state. According to senior sources at the State Department, the Likud leader agreed that the borders would be based on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed land swaps. Netanyahu indeed sought progress toward a two-state solution, although with unrealistic conditions in regard to the size of the settlement blocs and on the future of Jerusalem.
