There is a lot of talk these days about an Israeli-Palestinian two state solution to solve the underlying problem of opposing groups attempting to occupy the same parcel of land. First proposed in 1937 by the British Peel Commission, an attempt was made to resolve this disputed land by giving each group their own land borders for autonomous rule.
Sadly, due to many altercations and issues in the ensuing years, the Palestine War broke out in 1948 culminating in Israel defeating the Arab coalition and, in addition to the proposed land for an Israeli state, Israel took nearly 60% of the land allotted to the Arabs for a Palestinian state. So are the spoils of war.
With the terrorist attack of Israeli settlements on October 7, 2023, and the IDF combat operations in Gaza to eradicate the Hamas organization responsible, the two state solution is being touted as necessary to resolve this continuous conflict. Seen as the only means of quelling the violence from both sides, the sensible thing to do, according to some, is to create two sovereign nations in the conflicted area.
The United States has, broadly speaking, some of the same issues as the area known as Palestine prior to 1948. Call it what you will, left/right, Democrat/Republican, Liberal/Conservative, Batshit Crazy/Sane, this nation is as divided as it was in the years leading up to our nation’s most expensive war with regards to the human cost. It might serve us well to consider alternatives to taking up arms against one another to settle the nation’s differences.
Those who won the battle between the States and subsequently authored their version of history tend to make this conflict, much as those on either side of the Israeli-Palestinian war today, a triumph of good over evil, freedom over slavery, and democracy over tyranny. The truth is much more complex and should be examined in an effort to navigate the path forward in an attempt to find a bloodless solution to a polarized nation.
In November of 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election setting the stage for the attempted dissolution of the union. On December 24, 1860, South Carolina, believing they had the right to secede, did so with a declaration of secession. This wasn’t the first time that South Carolina had issues with the union. In 1832, South Carolina believing that the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 imposed on manufactured goods placed an unfair tax burden on the largely agrarian southern states, declared it unconstitutional and therefore null and void in the sovereign state. What became known as the Nullification Crisis was averted with the passage of both the Force Bill and the Compromise Tariff of 1833.
Today, the United States is in need of such a compromise. Below, you will find what could be a two state solution, and also a four state solution to our national divide.
More to come…