Bringing the (Bi-National) State Back In

Abstract

Many have tried to avoid or obfuscate the problem, but it always comes back to haunt. Indeed, the only way in which the contradiction disappears entirely is in an imaginary Israel overwhelmingly inhabited by Jews. Still, even in this hypothetical case, what would be the appropriate demographic cut-off? Ninety percent Jews? Ninety-five? Even 100 percent of Jews wouldn't be sufficient, however, if population homogeneity was achieved by an initial act of ethnic cleansing. Early in Zionism's history, Jewish intellectuals such as Hannah Arendt, Martin Buber, and Judah Magnes clearly identified the Jewish-democracy contradiction, warning that it would provoke disaster. As Virginia Tilley writes in The One-State Solution, they supported mass Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine, but thought Jews should share state power with Arabs. Otherwise, they predicted, the indigenous population would resist, with awful implications for all. Neither Jews nor Palestinians ever pursued bi-nationalism, but it was, at least, an idea that was tolerated and debated. Many Jews recognized Zionism's internal contradiction, and the notion of sharing state power was not entirely taboo. After the 1948 ArabIsraeli war, however, the idea all but disappeared. Non-Jewish proponents of bi-nationalism were tagged as genocidal anti-Semites, while Jewish adherents were dismissed as self-hating or naive. Recently, bi-nationalism has enjoyed a bit of a revival, due in large part to the failure of the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace accords. The authors reviewed here are prominent contributors to the debate, arguing that Zionism's internal contradiction has led Jews and Palestinians into a bloody dead end. The only way out, they argue, is a sincere effort by both communities to re-imagine their national identities, and to eventually share political power within the same territorial unit. These two books come at the subject differently, and taken together, make a provocative and stimulating read. Tilley's work begins with the claim that West Bank Palestinians will remain under Israeli control