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The two-state reality the British government is ignoring
7 October, as well as the deeply corrupt and terrorist stipend-supporting Palestinian Authority, has all but destroyed the appetite for a two state solution in Israel
The two-state solution is dead, or at least in a deep coma. Having been part of organisations that advocate two states, it gives me no pleasure at all to write that, but it is, tragically, where we are. The two-state solution is yet another victim of the 7 October massacre, and politicians need to understand that.
Here is the reality: Support for a two-state solution, unsurprisingly, collapsed in the immediate aftermath of the horror of three years ago. It is still not strong now.
In March, the Peace Index assembled by the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University found just 25% support from Jewish Israelis for negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Just 23% backed a two-state solution. (That is actually up 3% from the November 2025 Index.) Amongst Arab respondents, there was 71% support.
Meanwhile, in June 2026, the Institute for National Security Studies, also in Tel Aviv, found 25% support for a two-state solution. A mere 16% of Jews considered two states for two peoples that best option to be pursued by Israel.
Yes, politicians should lead public opinion, not follow it. At least some of the time. However, this data is hardly an encouraging basis on which to start. And that is all without considering the weakness of the Palestinian Authority and the evil of Hamas.
The pain of 7 October is going to take a long time to fade. Probably a generation or more. It seems highly unlikely that in the interim Israelis are going to support a deal that would inevitably, one way or another, involved some of those linked to the atrocities.
Two states can’t exist amidst the ongoing risk of terror. Are we seriously pretending that Israelis should allow those who spent years operating the infamous “pay for slay” scheme and others who conducted 7 October to set up a state on their border?
The terrible, extremist Israeli government is obviously an impediment to a two-state solution, too. While I hope it gets booted out of office in a few weeks, I don’t imagine for one second that its replacement will quickly head to the negotiating table.
This was all ignored by Ed Miliband, Andy Burnham and any other minister deployed to defend the new sanctions against West Bank settlements. They repeatedly argued the move helped protect the prospect of a two-state solution and spoke about this magical end point as if it is in any way plausible now or will be in the foreseeable future. It is not and it will not be.
How exactly do politicians from Britain and elsewhere who believe they are “protecting” the two-state solution imagine it is going to come about? Hamas still wants the total destruction of the Jewish state. Should elections in the West Bank actually take place in November, Hamas proxies may come to power, meaning they will have control of both the West Bank and Gaza.
For reasons outlined by others elsewhere, I think the sanctions themselves are both wrong and likely to be ineffective, but Britain should absolutely push back in other ways against the E1 settlement building and condemn the terrorism from some of those that live in the settlements, too. That is because they are wrong on their own merits, not because stopping them is going to somehow bring us back to the kind of offers that Palestinian leaders have rejected for decades.
With a new year comes new hope and a chance to see things differently. We cannot strive for better but cannot make progress by pretending things are not as they actually are. There needs to be an end to the delusion.
I need no convincing that a proper, lasting two-state solution is the best ultimate one for both Israelis and Palestinians. Given is currently no prospect of it, politicians and diplomats need to start thinking differently, and fast.
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