I have been a supporter of the one state solution since leaving college around 2011; I came to the realization that the two state solution was not possible. The one state solution would be a single country with special obligations to both nations of Israelis and Palestinians, with equal and reciprocal rights for both groups. Just as Israel was created to serve as a refuge for the Jewish peoples scattered across the world, it has scattered indigenous Palestinians across the world as well. I support a model in which the government has a special obligation to both peoples within and abroad; to speak as an advocate for both and allow both an equal right of return.

We have international models for how such a solution could work; in the good Friday agreement of Ireland, the reconciliation courts of Rwanda, and especially the anti-apartheid movement of South Africa. Whether we're talking about a majority country freeing a minority as happened in the US, or a minority granting rights to the majority as in South Africa, the people with total power over the situation beforehand remained more economically and politically powerful than those newly enfranchised. The two state solution on the other hand has not been a realistic option in my lifetime. To ask the Palestinians, with a hostile nation on their border that’s blockaded their ports and militarily occupied them for decades, to have no military is to ask them to remain victims. Neither side could be expected to give up Jerusalem. You can’t deport 700,000 Jewish settlers. The two state solution is just impossible to work out at this point and has had decades of international support to try.

Some people now argue that the one state solution is impossible because its unpopular. That there is too much spilled blood between the two sides after Oct 7th for the two sides to live together. Well 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda and they've managed to live in one country. The Irish conflict with Britain lasted hundreds of years and had even more people die from things like the potato famine, and they've managed to make peace and live with the North Ireland carve out. Some people pay special attention to Palestinians saying they oppose the one state solution. Setting the legitimacy of such polls aside, the logical extension of such an argument is that Palestinians prefer to be victims of apartheid and genocide: an odious claim that should not be entertained. Given the choice between the current system and citizenship, its difficult to imagine Palestinians would prefer the current system.

In the short term, America must immediately cut off all weapon shipments. Whatever legitimate military concerns Israel may once have had, its conduct in the last 2 years has completely disqualified it as they do more harm than good. Saving the lives of the people being systematically starved, imprisoned, and executed is not just righteous but our obligation: because its our planes, dropping our bombs, for billions of our dollars. In the long term, the US should give up the 2-state fiction and begin pursuing a real one state solution.