“There’s no other way to preserve that Jewish state and its democratic nature without a two-state solution,” said Susan Rice.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Susan Rice, former U.S. ambassador to the UN and national security adviser to the Obama administration, said on Tuesday that there’s no other way to ensure that Israel can remain both Jewish and democratic without a two-state solution.

Her comments were made in an interview with Alan Solow of the Israel Policy Forum.

“There’s no other way to preserve that Jewish state and its democratic nature without a two-state solution,” Rice said.

“Now, I understand that there are many pressures and militating factors that are making that harder and harder to achieve, but for that to be lost as the object we all seek, that we continue to strive for, means that fundamentally either Israel will no longer be able to sustain itself as a Jewish state or it will no longer be able to sustain itself as a democracy,” she said.

Rice said that either outcome is one that “we have to try to avoid at all costs.”

“So when it comes to annexation, I think the obvious argument against it is that it all but makes that objective of a two-state outcome impossible,” she said.

Democrats have come out strongly against Israel’s sovereignty plans. Last week, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and 114 other fellow Democrats signed a letter accusing Israel of sacrificing its security interests and diplomatic ties with allies by extending sovereignty to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

Judea and Samaria is Israel’s historic homeland where most events of the Bible took place. It is claimed by the Palestinian Authority for a future state.

The Israel Policy Forum is an organization that describes itself as working “to shape the discourse and mobilize support among American Jewish leaders and U.S. policymakers for the realization of a viable two-state solution.”

On February 6, the group published “How American supporters of the two-state solution should respond to annexation,” an article by Ilan Goldenberg.

Goldenberg suggested that perhaps the best option for U.S. policymakers who oppose annexation is to publicly state that if a two-state solution is not possible, they support one bi-national democratic state of Israel with equal rights for all of the people who live there.

Goldenberg hopes that Israel will be unable to choose between being Jewish and being democratic, and therefore choose two states instead. “This might be enough to spur Israelis to take action to preserve the viability of two states so that they can be both democratic and Jewish,” Goldenberg said.

Ever since the establishment of the State of Israel as a “Jewish state” and also one that offers “full and equal citizenship and due representation” to its Arab inhabitants, the question of what would happen if the country lost its Jewish majority has loomed.

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Progressive Jewish organizations are also warning Israel not to annex Judea and Samaria.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and formal rival Blue and White leader Benny Gantz joining hands, it is expected that Israel will move forward in its plans to annex Judea and Samaria.

Palestinian leaders warned Israel on Monday to not dare make such a move.

“Do not think that because of the coronavirus we have forgotten about the annexation, Netanyahu’s measures, or the ‘Deal of the Century,’” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said, as cited by Middle East Monitor.

“We continue to seek an end to the occupation and establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he added.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said annexation would “dismember” the Palestinian people and would put an end to a two-state solution, reported International Middle East Media Center.

Quds Net News reported that PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat is in talks with the international community to preserve the two-state solution.

“A government coalition based on a commitment to annex more occupied Palestinian territory is a threat to a rules-based world order in general, but to peace, security, and stability in the Middle East,” Erekat said, according to the Jerusalem-based Arabic news outlet.

“It is an international responsibility to hold the new Israeli government accountable and to demand full implementation of its obligations under international law and signed agreements,” he said.

Not only are Palestinian leaders condemning Israel’s annexation plans, but so are progressive Jewish organizations.

“It would be disastrous for Israel’s interests as well as a gross violation of Palestinian rights,” a Sunday statement by J Street read.

The statement also said that it would do everything in its power to prevent the U.S. from assisting Israel in its “intention of preventing the creation of an independent Palestinian state.”

Israel Policy Forum, which promotes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, released a statement on Sunday, saying, “We hope that the new Israeli government closely examines the potential consequences of unilateral annexation and the deleterious impact it will have on Israeli security and diplomacy.”

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