Four Times Palestinians Rejected a Two-State Solution

If Israel had only given Palestinians their own nation, the attack on October 7th would have never happened. That is the common thread woven into almost all pro-Palestinian protests, but it is a fallacy. The Palestinians have had several opportunities to establish their own nation-state, but they have rejected several good offers. Below are four times Palestinians had a clear path to sovereignty but failed to follow through.

1937 — The Peel Commission

In the early 20th century, international persecution led to a large migration of Jews back to Palestine. (Note that the geographic area was named “Palestine,” but it was controlled by the British and the Ottoman Empires before that. No Palestinian sovereign state has ever existed before then.) The Jews then proceeded to purchase land from Arab landowners. Although a Jewish presence had always existed in the area, the increase in population contributed to unrest in the region.

The Peel Commission was established in 1935 to investigate the reasons for unrest in Palestine, and it eventually developed a recommendation to partition the geographic area and establish both a Jewish and Arab state. However, the Arab Higher Committee rejected the proposal so it never came to fruition. Had they accepted the proposal, the Palestinian state would have been bigger than the Jewish one. See the map.

1947 — The UN Partition Vote

The UN Special Committee on Palestine was created to explore the reasons for tensions between Arabs and Jews in the region. They put forth two proposals, both of which were rejected by Arabs while Israel had accepted one of the two options. Israel was able to use the UN vote for the partition as a basis for forming the state of Israel. The Palestinians lost an opportunity to follow suit and establish an independent state of their own.

2000 — Camp David Summit

Bill Clinton pushed for a peace negotiation between the Palestinians and Israel at a two-week conference. During the Summit, the Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat was offered a demilitarized Palestinian state in 92% of the West Bank and 100% of Gaza, a right of return of refugees to the proposed…