Escaping the Two-State Cul-de-Sac: The ‘Regional’, the International, and a New Environment for Israeli–Palestinian Negotiations

Abstract

Responding to Brendan O’Leary’s ‘Power-Sharing and Partition’, this essay challenges both O’Leary’s approach and the general invocation of direct Israel-Palestine negotiations for a two-state solution. The essay makes this challenge both through a critique of the Israeli and Palestinian positions and of the interests and possible interventions of other States and groups in the region. Pursuing their foreign policy goals and using the conflict to mobilize domestic support, those States are unable to support a resolution or have no impetus to do so. With no foreseeable change in the Israeli approach opening up possibilities in direct talks, this essay proposes a reframing of the ‘regional’ and ‘international’ as an alternative to the status quo. In spaces such as the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, Palestinian constituencies can pursue a legitimacy and autonomy to build political, legal, and economic capital. Provided this is accompanied by reconciliation among Palestinian groups, this can lay the foundation for a new approach to negotiations which do not rest primarily on fixed Israeli conditions.