Recently, President Joe Biden discussed the situation in Gaza and expressed that his “second priority” is to "work toward bringing Israel together in a way that provides for the beginning of option — an option of a two-state solution." This would involve the creation of a Palestinian state, that would supposedly live side-by-side in peace with Israel and the rest of the Middle East.
This is the accepted conventional wisdom by the foreign policy establishment “blob” on the Israeli-(Palestinian) Arab “crisis”.
As I have argued before, creating a Palestinian state in the Middle East is not in the U.S. national interests. Its establishment will not lead to peace in the Middle East. It will actually endanger Israel, and also the Sunni Arab allies of the U.S. Its formation will not spread democracy or promote human rights. Its establishment will empower Iran and other U.S. enemies. Its founding will endanger U.S. lives and property. And its creation is unlikely to make the U.S. more popular with the Muslim world.
Therefore, it really makes no sense for the U.S. to promote a “two-state solution” that creates a Palestinian state. We should not waste valuable American money, time, and foreign policy influence on promoting something that is not in our national interests.
But the magic words of the “two-state solution” never die, and every time the Palestinians do something crazy and barbaric, like on October 7, the foreign policy blob comes back to reward them with these words, and this “solution.”
I have a humble suggestion. If we are going to waste the U.S.’s money, time and foreign policy influence on “solving” the Israeli-(Palestinian) Arab “crisis” to create a “two-state solution” for the Palestinian Arabs (instead of, say, promoting a Kurdish majority state(s) that are filled with a unique ethnic and Muslim people who actually are fond of and willing to ally with the U.S.), can we at least create a “two-state solution” that makes sense and is more helpful to actually accomplishing our national interests?
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Here is my “two-state solution” – parts of Judea and Samaria, those not wanted by Israel, go to Jordan; most of Gaza goes to Egypt.
Why does this work?
First, in Jordan, there are currently over 11 million Arabs. The official Jordanian census likes to hide the true number of Palestinian Arabs in the country, but “in contrast to the census data, over half of the Jordanian population is Palestinian.” Also see here and here and here and here. Now, the current King of Jordan is not a Palestinian Arab; he is a Hashemite, of a family originating in Mecca, which was brought to the country by the British. (However, he is married to a Palestinian Arab, meaning his likely successor will be of Palestinian descent.) But this is immaterial. Adding more Palestinian Arabs to Jordan, to a nation in which they already make up the majority of the population, makes sense, if you want the Palestinians to have their own nation.
By the way, the fact that Jordan is a monarchy, which does not allow for democratic majority rule, has no real bearing on this issue. Few, if any, of the Arab states have a functioning democracy with majority rule. Any Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, or Gaza, will not have a functioning democracy either.
Second, in Egypt, there are currently around 110 million people, a huge majority of them being Muslim. In Gaza, there are either over 2 million people, according to the Palestinians (who tend to be dishonest); or, in reality, probably only around 1.5 million people. They are overwhelmingly Muslim. Further, many of ancestors of the people of Gaza, whatever their true number, originally immigrated from Egypt, a fact which can often be shown by looking at their last names or their DNA. Since the population of Gaza is nothing more than a tiny speck when compared to vastness of the population of Egypt, there is no reason for them not to be joined in a contiguous state with the Egyptian population that they are most closely related to.
Granted, neither Jordan nor Egypt actually wants the Palestinians. That is because the Palestinians are troublemakers, who have caused chaos, terrorism and violence in every Arab nation they have lived in, including Egypt, in the 50’s and 60’s, and Jordan, in the 70’s. Also, in the case of Gaza, the Palestinians living there are supportive of Hamas, which is a Muslim Brotherhood organization. And the MB, of course, briefly ruled Egypt and became incredibly unpopular there because of its religious fanaticism, its tyranny, and its lack of respect for human rights.
So, what should the U.S. do to change the minds of the leadership Jordan and Egypt? Well, the U.S. provides billions of dollars annually to both Jordan and Egypt. I think we have some influence there, don’t you?
And what about the greater Sunni Muslim Arab world? Well, they hate the Palestinians, and provide lip service to their cause. In fact, in many cases, the Sunni Arab leadership support Israel to act as a counterweight to the Shia Muslim menace of Iran.
So, this is my (alternative) “two-state solution” to the Israeli-(Palestinian) Arab “crisis.” I believe it is far superior for the national interests of the U.S. than is the foreign policy blob’s “two-state solution”. However, it is still only the second-best solution to this “crisis,” because it will require American money, time, and influence.
The best solution is still to do nothing.
Adam Turner is a foreign policy expert and national security professional, with two decades of experience on Capitol Hill and in Washington DC. He can be found on X at @AdamEdward1971.
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