Is the two-state solution still possible? Historians and advocates clash
September 29, 2026 · 29 min read
Benny Morris, Norman Finkelstein, Mouin Rabbani, Mearsheimer, Omar Suleiman, Jared Kushner and Bassem Youssef disagree over 1948, Camp David and what a settlement could look like after October 7. The range of views shows why the conflict resists simple narratives.
The rules, numbers and steps worth keeping in front of you.
- Nearly every speaker treats two states as the only settlement seriously worked out; the fight is over whether it can still happen and on whose terms.
- John Mearsheimer: no military solution exists, but Israeli politics now offers hardly any support for two states.
- Benny Morris: Arab leaders rejected partition in 1937 and 1947, and in 2000 Arafat refused about 95% of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and all of Gaza.
- Mouin Rabbani: the 2000 offer fell short of the Palestinian minimum, a state on the 22% outside Israel's 1949 lines.
- Norman Finkelstein: measured against international law, all the concessions came from the Palestinians.
- Steven Bonnell: where a speaker starts the history decides who gets the blame.
- Bonnell: half a million Israelis will never be removed from the West Bank, and appeals to law have not produced a state.
- Jared Kushner: each failed round grew settlements and money to Palestinian leaders, so neither side had reason to settle.
- Kushner names Hamas as the obstacle in Gaza; Omar Suleiman names the occupation.
- Bassem Youssef: when one side has overwhelming power, it has little reason to give up land.
- Mearsheimer rejects the word genocide for Gaza; Morris accepts something like apartheid only in the West Bank; Rabbani and Suleiman use both terms.
- Rabbani and Suleiman both condemn killing civilians, whoever does it.
- Caution: figures and claims about what is possible reflect when each person spoke.
This is the short form. The full insight has every expert's reasoning, their own words and the sources.