The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock [Hardcover]

Virginia Tilley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0472115138 | ISBN-13: 978-0472115136

“A clear, trenchant book on a topic of enormous importance... Overall this is a courageous plunge
into boiling waters. If it helps propel forward a debate that has hardly begun in this country it will
have performed a signal scholarly and political function.”
—Tony Judt, New York University

“. . . a pioneering text. . . . [A]s such it will take pride of place in a brewing debate.”
—Gary Sussman, Tel Aviv University

The One-State Solution demonstrates that Israeli settlements have already encroached on the occupied territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the extent that any Palestinian state in those areas is unviable. It reveals the irreversible impact of Israel’s settlement grid by summarizing its physical, demographic, financial, and political dimensions. Virginia Tilley explains why we should assume that this grid will not be withdrawn—or its expansion reversed—by reviewing the
role of the key political actors: the Israeli government, the United States, the Arab states, and the European Union. Finally, the book addresses the daunting obstacles to a one-state solution—including major revision of the Zionist dream but also Palestinian and other regional resistance—and offers some ideas about how those obstacles might be addressed.

 

Virginia Tilley is Chief Research Specialist in the Democracy and Governance Division of the Human Research Council in Cape Town, South Africa.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Virginia Q. Tilley is Associate Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the USA --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press (May 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0472115138
• ISBN-13: 978-0472115136
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,110,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 56 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Opening a "Forbidden Debate" June 13, 2005

By J. L. Spates

Format:Hardcover

The great advantage of Virginia Tilley's new book, in this commentator's eyes, is that it should reintroduce an issue that, for reasons much too complex to go into here, has long been "off the table": the hypothesis that the only viable solution to the Palestinian-Israeli problem is to find a way for the disputing and warring sides to live together. In the early parts of her book, Tilley argues that the policy of "in-fill" of Jewish settlements into areas that might have, once, been part of a possible (if resource-poor, surrounded-by hostile others) Palestinian homeland, have made such a homeland utterly unfeasible. Given this, the only solution is to create a single state wherein, in the creation of that state, the two sides have worked long and hard to find ways to accommodate their differences. Tilley is of course powerfully aware that the practical obstacles--and arguments against--such a solution are enormous, but no more so, she contends, than the practical obstacles and arguments facing any serious two state solution. In the latter part of the book, Tilley attempts to wend her way through the rock and a hard place she has "created," as she tries to meet objections and "pave the way" for serious discussion of the issue. The only reason I give this book a "four" instead of a "five" is that, by book's end, it isn't clear, to me at least, that the "one-state solution" is going to work either--even if (and it's a big "if") those involved in the conflict get down to brass tacks concerning her thesis. However, that's a minor quibble: for generations, the problem has proved intractable and she should hardly be held responsible for not "solving absolutely" a conundrum that has perplexed luminaries and people of good will--on both sides--for a half century and more.... But this much she has done--and it is much: a serious student of the region and its issues, a scholar empathetic with the problems faced by each side--particularly with the problems faced by Palestinians--she has given us a clear, sophisticated, well-argued "new idea" to consider about a major world problem. Her book's great contribution is its ability to put before us, seriously, an alternative way to continue intelligent debate about the central issues and enormous suffering going on in that small, incredibly important, seemingly God-forsaken, part of the world she takes as her subject. Very much worth reading and debating, in other words. Read more ›

55 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Changed my whole view January 12, 2006

By Writer in the Berkshires

Format:Hardcover

I first heard about this book from friends who are angry about it, so I figured I wouldn't bother with it. After all, only some seriously ignorant ideologue would think a one-state solution for this conflict could ever work, right? But then one of my uncles, who happens to be a Holocaust survivor, told me to read it and not have preconceptions, and that it had given him hope for the first time in years.

So partly out of curiosity and partly to be nice to him I picked up a copy. I couldn't put it down, read it in five days, stayed up after midnight... it wrecked several nights' sleep. First, Tilley writes plain brilliantly. Each chapter flows like a page-turner, which isn't easy to do with this kind of material. Mainly, though, she has so many facts at hand, and works through the arguments so carefully, that her argument hit me as air-tight. After each chapter I felt my whole understanding of this conflict spinning around on its axis. But just when I was ready to despair, Tilley offered a way forward that is truly inspirational to me, and that's not easy for a middle-aged Jewish cynic to say about any book these days, let alone one on the Middle East. By the last page, I had tears in my eyes... and nothing to do with them except write this review.

Anyone who trashes this book hasn't read it. Tilley covers so much ground, from history to sociology and geography... it makes a complete picture. She is also very careful, and balanced in her way, but not in that false meaning of "balance" that really means not dealing with Israel's policies and what is really going on, even if those facts are terribly painful to face. I felt her compassion in every line even while she was trashing some of my most closely held beliefs. I wanted to attack her argument several times but never could...... rest assured, the book has full references for those who care about such things. Yet it escapes the academic trap (I see from the cover that she's a political science professor) and flows so well that most of us non-academics can float right through it.

But this book isn't just gripping. It's important. I've talked to my friends about putting together a reading group just on this book. Some great classroom debates could come out of it, I imagine. My only advice to anyone picking up this book is to really READ it... read all of it, maybe a chapter at a time, because you have to get the entire picture to realize how much ground it covers and how powerful it is, and how much it matters that we all start dealing with a one-state solution. Before I read this book, I thought the idea was nuts. After reading it, I think we can do it... but more, we have to do it. Read more ›

60 of 77 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The One-Book Solution September 5, 2005

By John Haines

Format:Hardcover

For anyone who is curious about the conflict in Israel-Palestine, for anyone

who would like to know the the whys and wherefores of this dispute that has

lasted for over a century, for anyone who doesn't have a lot of time on

their hands to read all the available literature on the subject (and no one

has that much time), just spend a couple of evenings with this book and you

will have a good handle on what is really happening over there and what

needs to be done to find peace between these Semitic peoples.

For anyone who is curious enough to look up the maps of the proposed

division of what was once called Palestine into two states, Israel and

Palestine, it is quite obvious: the 2-state solution cannot possibly happen.

In fact, as Tilley makes abundantly clear, the 2-state solution really never

existed as a factual possibility - it was a propagandistic diversion from the

real issue - how the Arabs and Jews in this tiny land could live together

without killing each other. It isn't as complicated as many would like you

to believe. Both Israelis and Palestinians want and need the same thing -

a place where they can raise their children in safety and enjoy God's

blessings - by the way, its the same God for both of them - but both want

the same land.

Why one group, the Israelis, should claim that their God gave them title to

the land that was once called Palestine and has been inhabited by people,

now called Palestinians, for centuries is beyond me.... They claim it is decreed

in the Bible but one can read many interpretations into biblical texts - such

as, white immigrants to North America are manifestly destined by God

to remove, subjugate or destroy all indigenous people, because they had

suntans, and of course because they happened to be in the way.

What Virginia Tilley does is cut through all this crap and bring us to where

we are now. Israel-Palestine, in particular the West Bank (since they have

recently removed the settlements from Gaza), is so divided by immense

settlements (some are actually small cities) and roads to service these

settlements - much as Ariel Sharon predicted long ago with his

cut-them-up-like-a-pastrami-sandwich, facts-on-the-ground strategy - that

the possible establishment of two states is finished, dead, fuggedaboutit.

There is no way in hell that any Israeli politician can advocate the

dismantlement of these settlements which would entail moving hundreds of

thousands of Israelis to some other place in Israel. Therefore there is simply

no room or resources remaining for any second state to be established.

Another solution that is frequently mentioned, particularly by Zionist

fanatics, is that all the Arabs now living either in the occupied territories or

Israel proper be forcibly "transferred" to Jordan or other Arab countries

and be done with. After all, they say, there is so much Arab land and so

little for Israel. Tilley dismisses this possibility, a brutal ethnic cleansing

the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Holocaust, as unlikely due to

international outrage. I am not so confident.

But what about the idea that these two peoples can live together in the

same place? For that I suggest reading this book. If there is one book that

I could recommend on the Israel-Palestine issue, this book is it. I call it

The One-Book Solution. Read more ›