It’s well known that Netanyahu had already been refusing to accept a Palestinian state. In the wake of Hamas’ attack on October 7th, this position is now likely supported by the majority of Israelis.

Then what are the options?  It seems there are basically two paths.

The first path would be for the present situation to continue. Palestinians in occupied areas would continue to have limited rights to property, restricted freedom of movement, unequal rights to justice (Palestinians are subject to military courts where they are most often refused access to legal defense) and it’s redundant to say, meager political rights. This is otherwise known as apartheid. 

The second path would be establishing a single secular state with equal rights for all people, whether they were born there or not.

Both paths would establish a single state that extends “from the river to the sea” including pre-1967 Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.

The first path would require further militarization of the West Bank. This phenomenon has already been observable over the last several years. The expropriations of Palestinian homes and expanding Israeli settler lands have been resisted and therefore resulted in growing numbers of Palestinian deaths and imprisonments. All of this has been happening since well before the October 7th attacks by Hamas. It’s also widely speculated that due to this military buildup in the West Bank, the Israeli army and other forces left the border with Gaza unprotected on the day of the attacks.

In the second path, one where a secular and desegregated state is pursued, Israel would no longer be a country with a Jewish majority unless Palestinians are forced to emigrate. This forced emigration is something many Israelis seem to advocate for. That would amount to ethnic cleansing and would likely be impossible to subject seven million Palestinians to.

It seems that the existence of two states is not viable. Ten percent of the Israeli population lives in the West Bank, on land subject to Israeli jurisdiction, and Palestinians do not have a contiguous territory where they could establish true sovereignty.  

On the other hand, conditions in Israel do not favor a path towards a democratic, secular state that includes Jews and Palestinians. Therefore, it seems the status quo will continue causing more instability and deaths.

A gradual improvement of human rights and living conditions for Palestinians, accompanied by political accommodations could theoretically improve the prospects for a single democratic state in the medium or long term. I don’t see the political conditions for this at the moment either.

As if all of this isn’t enough, the current war on Gaza threatens to expand to Lebanon and other countries,  reinforcing Israel’s policy of deepening the status quo.