For decades, successive U.S. presidents have endorsed some form of a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, what no one anticipated until now was that the second state in question would be American rather than Palestinian.

Trump’s Gaza Takeover Plan May Sound Death Knell for the Two-State Solution

President Trump’s astonishing proposal to relocate the entire Palestinian population of Gaza and place the territory under U.S. control has sent shockwaves across the Middle East. This move not only challenges long-standing diplomatic efforts but may have effectively sealed the fate of the long-pursued, yet persistently elusive, goal of a Palestinian state coexisting peacefully alongside Israel.https://svtoday.org/

Any realistic vision of a Palestinian state has always included Gaza as an essential component, alongside the West Bank. Yet, under Trump’s vision, Gaza would become a U.S. territory, transformed into a “Riviera of the Middle East,” no longer belonging to the Palestinians but open to anyone wishing to live there. At the same time, he has indicated a willingness to consider Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank, with an official position expected within weeks.

The prospects for a Palestinian state had already diminished significantly in recent years, particularly after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and led to a devastating Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza, claiming 47,000 lives, according to Gaza health authorities. Polls indicate that neither the Israeli nor Palestinian populations see the two-state model as a viable solution anymore.

Nevertheless, the idea of a two-state solution has remained the official policy of much of the world, largely due to the absence of alternatives. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has insisted that any diplomatic agreement with Israel must include the establishment of a Palestinian state—a condition actively pursued by both Trump and his predecessor, President Biden.

“If Trump believes that U.S. control of Gaza and Israeli annexation of the West Bank will facilitate a deal, he is completely mistaken,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a Washington-based liberal, pro-Israel organization advocating for a negotiated peace. “There’s no viable path forward under this plan.”

Opponents of Palestinian statehood, however, feel emboldened. While Biden’s continued support for the two-state solution was never taken seriously by many, Trump’s return to power has strengthened the belief that such a state will never come to fruition.

“It’s a dead issue,” said Morton A. Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, which opposes the two-state solution. “I think most people consider it a dead issue. The Palestinians had a state in Gaza—how did that turn out?”

Trump has long positioned himself as the leader capable of bringing peace to the Middle East. Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast last Thursday, he expressed his desire to be remembered as “a peacemaker.” Yet, his attempts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have so far failed. When he took office in 2017, he boldly claimed that achieving peace was “not as difficult as people have thought over the years.”

However, the reality proved just as challenging as previous administrations had experienced. Trump tasked his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with drafting a peace proposal, which was unveiled in 2020. The plan envisioned a heavily restricted Palestinian state, with Israel retaining its West Bank settlements and full control over a unified Jerusalem, while the Palestinians were promised $50 billion in international investment. The proposal was widely perceived as favoring Israel and ultimately failed.

Despite this, Trump did secure a diplomatic victory by facilitating the Abraham Accords, which established formal ties between Israel and several Arab nations, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia initially declined to participate, though Biden came close to brokering an agreement—until the October 7 attacks derailed the negotiations. Now back in office, Trump hopes to revive these efforts and reshape the region.

However, he has not reaffirmed his commitment to a two-state solution. His newly appointed ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has all but dismissed the idea. “I’d be very surprised if he came out advocating for a two-state solution,” Huckabee said last month in an interview with Ami Magazine.

Trump himself remained ambiguous when questioned about his intentions. Announcing his plan to take “ownership” of Gaza during a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he was asked whether this signaled the end of the two-state solution. “It doesn’t mean anything about a two-state or a one-state or any other state,” he replied. “It just means we want to give people a chance at life.”

The following day, when pressed on CBS News, Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, stated, “I certainly didn’t hear the president say it was the end of the two-state solution.” However, neither he nor other administration officials have explained how stripping Gaza from Palestinian control aligns with the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.

International reaction to Trump’s Gaza plan has been overwhelmingly negative. In recent days, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, along with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Turkey, Canada, Japan, and the European Union, have all reaffirmed their support for a two-state solution. “There is only one solution, and that is a two-state solution,” said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

Yet, in many diplomatic circles, these statements now sound more like ritualistic talking points than a practical policy agenda. Within Israel and the Palestinian territories, support for the two-state framework has sharply declined.

A Gallup poll from last summer showed that only 27 percent of Israelis supported a two-state solution, while 64 percent opposed it—a dramatic shift from 2012, when 61 percent were in favor and 30 percent opposed. The trend is similar among Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where just 28 percent backed the idea in 2023, compared to 66 percent in 2012.

Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, declared the long-standing vision of a two-state solution obsolete.

“There is no way to rebuild Gaza,” he told Al Arabiya. “The West Bank is a separate political issue, but in Gaza, I don’t see how two million Palestinians can continue living in less than 400 square kilometers, where 80 percent of the buildings have been destroyed.”

Elliott Abrams, a veteran Middle East adviser to multiple Republican presidents, including Trump, argued that the two-state solution has been unfeasible for years, even if world leaders refuse to acknowledge it. While Trump’s proposal may be unrealistic, Abrams noted that it shifts the focus from political boundaries to the humanitarian crisis facing Gazans.

“Trump’s plan changed the conversation from politics to the people,” Abrams said. “He highlighted the conditions Gazans live in and how their future could be improved—without demonizing them. His proposal underscores that the two-state solution is little more than foreign ministers arguing, and it’s no solution at all.”

From the opposite side of the debate, Ben-Ami conceded that Trump had a point. “There is some truth in the idea that it’s difficult to rebuild Gaza while two million people remain there,” he admitted.

He also acknowledged that “the traditional two-state model has been effectively dead for some time.” However, he remains hopeful that Palestinian statehood could still be integrated into a broader regional framework, led by Saudi Arabia’s normalization efforts with Israel. “It has to be part of the larger deal,” Ben-Ami said. “We’ve started calling it a 23-state solution.”