One State?

PETACH TIKVA, Israel — If the set­tle­ment pop­u­la­tion of the West Bank con­tin­ues to sky­rocket, then a one-state solu­tion — the end of Israel as a Jew­ish and demo­c­ra­tic state, in other words — will be inevitable.

As Larry Derfner and I have writ­ten, the only prac­ti­cal solu­tion is to end all polit­i­cal and mil­i­tary sup­port for Israelis who live in the West Bank. Give the set­tlers three months (or so) to leave before a State of Pales­tine is declared, and inform them that they and their prop­er­ties will be under the juris­dic­tion of the new coun­try if they do not return to Israel. Israel can pro­vide com­pen­sa­tion and sup­port to encour­age the set­tlers to leave.

It will be messy; it will likely be vio­lent. But this short-term pain would be the only way to ensure long-term peace.