FORGET ABOUT A "TWO-STATE" SOLUTION to the Israel-"Palestinian" problem.
It's an imaginary problem anyway.
Consider the facts.
WHEN THE ENGLISH MANDATE was in force, "Palestine" included what now is Jordan and Israel.
Then the English, as they are wont to do, carved out a chunk of the their Mandate area - not to be confused with the French Mandatory area to the north - to pay off a Saudi family, England established the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan.
A little history on the name "Palestine." According to Wikipedia, Roman Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the province to Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, which certain scholars conclude was done in an attempt to remove the relationship of the Jewish people to the region.
Additional references:
Is the name Palestine an accurate name for Israel?
Origin of the Name Palestine
Palestine Since The Romans
Search for "Hadrian" in each of the above articles.
After the Romans sacked the Temple c 70 CE, to further demoralize the Jews the conquers renamed the area "Palestine" a name that was never known when government was in Jewish hands. Even during the Babylonian exile (from 598/7 to 587/6 BCE) the name remained Judea and Israel.
In 1948, the UN partitioned the land west of the Jordan River (hence "West Bank"). Partition plans had been offered to both Muslims and Jews; the former rejected all proposals. When Israel declared its independence, five Arab states joined in the invasion of Israel (Palestine): Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq; while the two contingents came from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. This in addition to attacks from Palestinian irregulars and volunteers from the Arab world.
Also see The War of 1948
Many Muslim Arabs either left Israel at the urging of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Grand Mufti Hajj Amin El Husseini, to escape the fighting, or were chased out by Jews who feared they were fifth columnists. (Meanwhile, Jews were forced out of Muslim countries that had been their homes for generations. Unlike the Muslims who left Israel, the Jews were absorbed by the state and not left in UN camps.)
According to the US Consul in Haifa, ". . . local mufti-dominated Arab leaders" were urging "all Arabs to leave the city, and large numbers did so." (Aubrey Lippincott, U.S. Consul General in Haifa, April 22, 1948 )
Jordan occupies, abandons the "West Bank"
A History Today entry titled Jordan Formally Annexes the West Bank states that In 1948 King Abdullah’s Arab Legion, trained and led by British officers, took the Jewish quarter of Old Jerusalem and seized control of the West Bank area on the western side of the Jordan, which included Jericho, Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus.
The annexation of the West Bank, which more than doubled Jordan’s population, was chewed over in talks with Israel which petered out in March 1950. In April, 1950 Jordan held an election for a new parliament to represent both banks of the Jordan. The newly elected parliament passed a resolution affirming support for ‘complete unity between the two sides of the Jordan and their union into one state’ and formally incorporating the West Bank into the Hashemite Kingdom of the Jordan.
A Palestine Facts entry titled Jordan Renounced Claims to West Bank, 1988 details the trials and tribulations Jordan had with the PLO.
According to the resource, Arab and international recognition of the PLO as "the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians," the overwhelming PLO victory in the 1976 municipal elections in the Territories, and the fact that seventy percent of the Jordanian population is of Palestinian origins, made it impossible for Jordan to compete with the PLO over representation of the Palestinians in the Territories without jeopardizing its domestic stability. In July 1988, in response to the accumulated pressures and the months of intifada demonstrations by Palestinians in the West Bank, King Hussein of Jordan ceded to the PLO all Jordanian claims to the territory.
The "birth" of the West Bank as a Political Entity, "Palestine," was 1988.
Egypt Gaza
According to a Wikipedia entry Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt , Egypt "occupied" but did not "annex," Gaza.
The occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt occurred between 1948 and October 1956 and again from March 1957 to June 1967. From September 1948, until its dissolution by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1959, the Gaza Strip was officially administered by the All-Palestine Government. Although largely symbolic, the government was recognized by most members of the Arab League. Following its dissolution, Egypt did not annex the Gaza Strip but left it under military rule pending a resolution of the Palestine question.
While many suggest that Sadat refused to accept Gaza as part of the Sinai deal, there seems no concrete evidence of this. To the contrary, Sadat apparently wanted to support a PLO presence in Gaza.
Three states?
Israel is not going away. It seems prepared to accept a "Palestinian" presence in a limited portion of the so-called West Bank.
Israel would prefer that the "Palestinian" enclave on the West Bank be reincorporated into and ruled by Jordan as it was until Jordan washed its hands of the "Palestinian" problem (Arafat) and that Gaza be controlled by Egypt.. The majority of Jordan's population is Palestinian.
Jordan, as a stable political entity with an established peace agreement with Israel would be, at least in Israel's point of view, the ideal owner, or at least manager, of "Palestine" areas A and B. A cross-border connection, perhaps initially manned by a joint Israel-Jordan-"Palestinian" guard, would assure that "Palestinian" terrorists are kept in "Palestine" and prevented from entering Jordan or Israel.
A note on Areas A and B. These areas contain places holy to both Muslims and Jews. Under PA control, these areas will be forbidden to Jews (and possibly Christians, too), and unlike Israel with its large Muslim population, no Jews will be allowed to reside in "Palestine."
Egypt, given that Hamas and the Islamic Brotherhood rule Gaza, probably doesn't want the strip, even if most Gazans are Egyptians, but a Gaza divorced both geographically and politically from the "Palestine" of the West Bank, cannot survive. It needs to make peace with Israel or Egypt - preferably both - to develop a deep water sea port and to repair its airport.
A "two state" solution simply won't work. Neither Gaza nor "Palestine" can survive economically - even with all the foreign aid pouring in each year - without a cohesive state.
A "two state" solution might be possible involving Israel and "Palestine" or between Israel and Gaza, but neither is likely given the continuing attacks and counter-attacks.
A "three-state" solution has the best chance of success; one that puts sensible heads in control of the "Palestinians" of the West Bank and Gaza.
