Palestine between yesterday's Nakba and today's attempts at official abolition and the one-state solution

The Palestinian cause is currently experiencing its most dangerous phase since the Nakba of 1948, not only in terms of the scale of the crimes committed against our people, including displacement and genocide, particularly in the Gaza Strip, but also in terms of what is no less serious: the targeting of the legitimacy of official Palestinian representation and the effort to completely abolish it. The Zionist project has long sought to erase Palestinian political existence, and today it is intensifying its attempts to empty the arena of any unifying official entity, represented by the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The 1948 Nakba was not only a humanitarian catastrophe and a tragedy of ethnic cleansing; it was also a fatal blow to the Palestinian leadership and its official representation of the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination, leading to the loss of a unified and independent Palestinian voice for decades. Today, this threat is returning, not only through bombing, killing, destruction, and plans for ethnic displacement, but also through a systematic political project that seeks to replace the central Palestinian authority with local tribal or regional authorities, with municipal or local council powers administered by alternative power centers in each governorate. This is transforming what remains of political unity into fragmented cantons that serve the interests of the occupation.

In this context, despite all the criticism directed at the Palestinian National Authority, many of which cannot be denied, reality compels us to acknowledge a matter of paramount importance: the survival of this authority, the improvement of its performance, and the implementation of fundamental reforms and transparent elections are the only realistic option today for preserving legitimate and internationally recognized Palestinian representation and preventing the liquidation of the Palestinian cause, which are intended to be implemented in the name of establishing “local government” for each governorate, subordinate to the civil administration.

The Israeli occupation itself signed the Oslo Accords with the Palestine Liberation Organization more than thirty years ago, but today it seeks to evade all its obligations and attempt to dismantle the remaining partial gains achieved by the Palestinians in this agreement. The ultimate goal is clear: to end any official Palestinian presence, abolish the principle of a Palestinian state, and end the principle of the right to self-determination.

From a national interest standpoint, the Palestinian Authority—despite its stagnation and the negatives surrounding it—should not be viewed merely as an institution governing and administering the affairs of the Palestinian people. Rather, its role must be recognized as a political symbol enjoying international legitimacy, representing the Palestinian people in regional and international forums. It stems from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and neither would have existed without the enormous sacrifices made by the Palestinian people throughout their history of struggle.

Under international law, the Palestinian people enjoy an inalienable right to self-determination and political representation through an official entity. This is stipulated in United Nations resolutions, including Resolution 3236 of 1974. Attempts to dismantle or weaken the Palestinian Authority, reduce its powers and areas of influence, or create local alternatives in Gaza and the West Bank violate this right and provide the occupation with a golden opportunity to eliminate the Palestinian state project once and for all.

In light of this critical reality, and with escalating attempts to undermine and weaken the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) as a prelude to dismantling the official representation of the Palestinian people, some have begun to raise questions about the feasibility of continuing to rely on the two-state solution and the role of the Palestinian Authority. In this context, alternative calls have emerged, most notably the "one-state solution," which is being presented in some intellectual circles as a strategic option for achieving equality and political rights within a unified political entity.

However, this proposal, despite its theoretical validity in terms of legal principles, remains far from political realism in the current context. The imbalance of power leaves no room for any such solution; rather, it opens the door to further political and national liquidation. Israeli society today is dominated by the forces of the extreme religious-nationalist right, which inherently opposes the principle of equality and treats the Palestinians as an existential and religious threat, rather than as people with rights and existence. Consequently, any struggle for a single, democratic state with equal rights will not only be difficult to achieve, but almost impossible, and may lead to a zero-sum battle in which religious and historical narratives are exploited to justify the complete exclusion of the Palestinians. In the view of this extremist movement, we are "us or them," not "equal citizens," making the results of such a project, if imposed, closer to a national catastrophe than a political solution.

Moreover, the "one-state solution" is not based on any existing international legal reference. Since UN Partition Resolution 181 of 1947, international legitimacy has been based on the existence of two states: Jewish and Arab. Any project not built on this foundation will lack international support and may be politically exploited to undermine Palestinian rights themselves.

Accordingly, talk of a "one-state solution" or any other alternatives not based on international legitimacy resolutions remains, at this stage, more of an intellectual luxury that does not reflect the existing balance of power and may even be used to justify the status quo. The two-state solution, despite its difficulties and challenges, remains the only realistic option recognized internationally, provided there is a unified Palestinian will, effective international pressure, and comprehensive internal reform that restores public confidence in the Palestinian Authority and fortifies it against attempts to abolish and dismantle it, thus serving as a starting point for a new beginning for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the ground.

Ultimately, the battle today is not just over land, but over representation and political legitimacy. Preserving the Palestinian National Authority, developing it, and reproducing it with democratic legitimacy is an absolute national necessity. It is the final bulwark against the scheme to liquidate the cause at its roots. The two-state solution remains a realistic and feasible option, requiring a unified Palestinian will, internal reform that restores the people's confidence in their institutions, and genuine international support that goes beyond condemnation but also exerts real pressure on the Israeli occupation to halt its expansionist project and adhere to legal obligations and international agreements.

Here, we must clearly emphasize that the Palestinian national strategy at this sensitive stage must adhere to the two-state solution as the only realistic and legal framework currently possible. We must restore the prestige of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) as a political achievement achieved through the blood and struggle of the Palestinian people, despite all the negatives and shortcomings attributed to it. The PNA, despite its limitations, represents the only officially recognized Palestinian presence, and its loss would return us to the post-Nakba era, to a state of political disarray and lack of representation, which is what the occupation clearly seeks. Therefore, our national duty today is not limited to demanding reform, but rather to protecting this political gain and not relinquishing it under any circumstances, so that it can serve as a new starting point for our national project of an independent Palestinian state.

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Any struggle for a single, democratic state with equal rights will not only be difficult to achieve, but nearly impossible, and could lead to a zero-sum battle in which religious and historical narratives are exploited to justify the complete exclusion of Palestinians.