Caroline B. Glick, The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for. Peace in the Middle East, New York: Crown Forum

Caroline B. Glick, The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for. Peace in the Middle East, New York: Crown Forum

The Israeli Solution is a  radical break with current thinking that has a chance to completely change the conversation for the betterment of Israel and America…Glick proposes that given an enemy that has been dedicated to nothing less than the annihilation of Israel, in order to defend its borders and continue to flourish, Israel must claim its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and grant all Palestinians, subject to Israeli law, with permanent residency and the ability to apply for full citizenship…Every person who cares about the fate of the West, regardless of political orientation, will gain something from reading Glick’s lucid, thoroughly researched and thought-provoking book

The Israel Solution by Caroline C. Glick is a manifesto that exposes the flaws in the two-state policy of the United States toward Israel and the Palestinians and offers a direct and powerful call for Israeli sovereignty in the region.

 The reigning consensus in elite and academic circles is that the United States must seek to resolve the Palestinians' conflict with Israel by implementing the so-called two-state solution. Establishing a Palestinian state, so the thinking goes, would be a panacea for all the region's ills. It would end the Arab world's conflict with Israel, because the reason the Arab world is anti-Israel is that there is no Palestinian state. It would also nearly erase the principal cause of the violent extremism in the rest of the Middle East. In a time when American politics are marked by partisan gridlock, the two-state solution stands out for its ability to attract supporters from both sides of the ideological divide. But the great irony is that it is one of the most irrational and failed policies the United States has ever adopted. 

Between 1970 and 2013, the United States presented nine different peace plans for Israel and the Palestinians, and for the past twenty years, the two state solution has been the centerpiece of U.S. Middle East policy. But despite this laser focus, American efforts to implement a two-state peace deal have failed--and with each new attempt, the Middle East has become less stable, more violent, more radicalized, and more inimical to democratic values and interests. 

In The Israeli Solution, Caroline Glick, a Senior Contributing Editor to the Jerusalem Post, examines the history and misconceptions behind the two-state policy, most notably:

• The huge errors made in counting the actual numbers of Jews and Arabs in the region. The 1997 Palestinian Census, upon which most two-state policy is based, wildly exaggerated the numbers of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza.
• Neglect of the long history of Palestinian anti-Semitism, refusal to negotiate in good faith, terrorism, and denial of Israel's right to exist. - Disregard for Israel's stronger claims to territorial sovereignty under international law, as well as the long history of Jewish presence in the region.
• Indifference to polling data that shows the Palestinian people admire Israeli society and governance. 

Despite a half-century of domestic and international terrorism, anti-semitism, and military attacks from regional neighbors who reject its right to exist, Israel has thrived as the Middle East's lone democracy. After a century spent chasing a two-state policy that hasn't brought the Israelis and Palestinians any closer to peace, The Israeli Solution offers an alternative path to stability in the Middle East based on Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria

Glick's solution to the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria (often improperly called “the West Bank”) is to follow actions taken by Prime Minister Begin who placed the Golan Heights and Jerusalem under Israeli law in the 1980’s.  Although technically those areas were not annexed to Israel, placing them under Israeli law was a de facto annexation.  They were no longer administered by the military.   

Palestinian Arabs, and many Western journalists seem to think that Israeli military presence means territories are “occupied,” but it does not.  The military is there to protect Israeli interests while the disputed territories are engaged in ‘dispute resolution’ with interested parties.  Once Israeli law is put into effect, Israel would be unilaterally affirming the end of ‘dispute’ and settling the question of control.

With passion and care, the author reviews the pros and cons of taking such a step.  She expresses a great deal of concern about the European reaction to such a move.  Also, there would certainly be fallout from increasing the number of Arab permanent residents and/or citizens as part of Israeli demographics.  Yet, this big step will give relief from the cul-de-sac Israel now finds itself in, where she endlessly negotiates for a two-state solution that the Palestinian Arabs do not want.  

The endgame for Mahmoud Abbas is the destruction of Israel.

The Israeli Solution projects an alternative to the dangerous gamesmanship and perpetual war we have witnessed in the quest for a so-called two state solution.  Yet, is it really wise to try to absorb a fiendish population – people mired in rage, mental instability, and rigid ideology – into one’s country?  Their co-Arabs have kicked them out of three different countries (Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait), so it seems unlikely they can be absorbed, even on a gradual basis, into the legal structure and fabric of Israeli society.

The expulsion of the Palestinian Arabs from Judea and Samaria, although not suggested in Glick's book, would be much more effective in bringing peace to Israel.  Yet, before doing so, an aggressive public relations campaign against the Palestinian Arabs is needed to counteract Arab and Soviet-era propaganda about Israel.  This campaign would put the moral onus where it belongs – on the attitudes, beliefs, and behavior of the Arabs, who were and still remain, an implacable enemy.