One-State Solution

The one-state solution envisages Israelis and Palestinians living within a single sovereign state rather than in two separate countries. This state would encompass Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with a common political framework governing both peoples. In its democratic form, it rests on equal citizenship, irrespective of ethnic, national or religious identity.

A shared state rather than territorial partition

The central idea is to resolve the conflict through shared sovereignty within one country, rather than by dividing the territory between an Israeli state and a Palestinian state.

• Israelis and Palestinians would participate in common state institutions, although the distribution of powers would depend on the constitutional design.
• Unlike the two-state solution, this arrangement would not establish two separately sovereign countries.
• A single state would not necessarily erase Israeli and Palestinian identities; its constitution would have to determine how both communities are recognised and represented.

Possible political forms

The term describes a family of proposals, not one universally agreed constitutional blueprint. Two important approaches differ in how they balance individual citizenship and collective national identity.

• A secular democratic state would organise political membership around equal individual citizenship rather than privileging one religious or national community.
• A binational state would explicitly recognise Israelis and Palestinians as two national communities within a single state, with arrangements protecting their collective rights.
• Federal structures, regional autonomy or power-sharing could be used within a shared state, but no particular institutional model is inherent in the one-state idea.

Questions the arrangement would have to resolve

Creating one state would require more than bringing territory under a single authority. A democratic settlement would need enforceable equal rights and credible security guarantees for both populations.

• Its constitutional framework would need to reconcile majority rule with protection against domination of either community.
• Negotiators would have to address Palestinian refugees, residency and citizenship, property claims, Jerusalem and access to holy sites.
• Common security institutions would need to protect both communities and operate under an accepted political authority.
• Simply maintaining unequal political rights under one overarching authority would not fulfil the egalitarian democratic version of the proposal.