If Not 2 States, A Federation
Date and time: Sunday, July 19, 2020, 2:30 to 4 pm Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
Tickets (suggested donation: $10 students, $15 non-students) here.
Gideon Elazar will introduce the idea of a federal solution for Israel/Palestine. While the implementation of a federal solution could potentially face many obstacles, it would enable Israelis and Palestinians to place less emphasis on the drawing of borders and would avoid the traumatic and potentially violent ordeal of evicting entire populations from their homes. Federal solutions would also allow both peoples to conduct their social, religious and cultural life autonomously while sharing political power at the federal level. Most importantly, working towards a federal solution would require both peoples to abandon ideas of separation and recognize our shared fate: Living together in a single geographic unit.
Emanuel Shahaf will explain and advocate for a particular federation proposal for an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that provides for equality and equal economic opportunity called for by Israel’s Declaration of Independence and UNGA181. The proposal calls for a single federal state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean with Gaza as a separate entity that would be provided for. Jews and Palestinians would maintain their unique cultural and religious identities in autonomous federal units (states) and together run a federal government whose principles of governance would be set by a jointly written secular constitution. This approach doesn’t preclude a two-state solution at a later stage but will likely make it unnecessary.
Gideon Elazar is an anthropologist who teaches at Bar Ilan University and Ariel University. He is a resident of Tekoa in Gush Etzion and a Roots activist.
Emanuel Shahaf is a former Aerospace Engineer and retired Mossad official turned political and social activist who has been promoting the Federation proposal since 2015. He recently authored Identity: The Quest for Israel’s Future, available on Amazon.
