Ultimately, what would a real and just peace look like for both Israelis and Palestinians — and what sacrifices might it require?

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A real and just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians would be a complex, negotiated reality rooted in mutual recognition of national rights, comprehensive security, and equitable justice.

It would move beyond a mere cessation of violence to establish a sustainable structure where both peoples live in dignity, safety, and freedom, fulfilling their right to self-determination.

While the internationally endorsed framework remains the Two-State Solution (two independent, sovereign states living side-by-side based on the 1967 lines), achieving true justice and sustainability requires moving beyond territory alone to address core issues of security, refugees, and accountability.

I. The Pillars of a Just and Durable Peace

A peace that lasts must be built on three core, interlocking pillars that address the fundamental needs of both populations.

A. The Pillar of Self-Determination and Sovereignty

For Israelis and Palestinians, a just peace must guarantee the realization of their national identities in a secure form.

  • For Palestinians: An Independent, Sovereign State. This means establishing a unified, viable, and independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The state must have genuine sovereignty, including control over its borders, airspace, and natural resources, and a monopoly on the legal use of force. Any imposed "statehood" lacking these characteristics would perpetuate inequality and instability.

  • For Israelis: Secure and Recognized Existence. This means international and regional recognition of Israel's right to exist within secure, internationally recognized borders. The peace must remove the existential threat felt by Israelis, underpinned by security agreements that prevent future attacks and ensure the demilitarization of the Palestinian state.

B. The Pillar of Comprehensive Security and Normalization

True security is not just the absence of conflict but a mutual guarantee of safety for every individual.

  • Mutual Security Arrangements: The peace deal must include cooperative security mechanisms with international guarantees. This means a phased Israeli military withdrawal coupled with a robust international or multi-lateral security presence in the Palestinian state during a transition period, ensuring that the Palestinian security forces can eventually assume full control.

  • Regional Normalization: A sustainable peace must be regional. Full diplomatic and economic normalization between Israel and the wider Arab and Muslim world must be formally tied to the realization of a sovereign Palestinian state. This would embed Israel's security within a regional economic and security framework, offering a massive peace dividend.

  • Ending Occupation and Settler Presence: For Palestinians, ending the occupation is the core demand for peace. This requires the complete cessation of settlement activity and the evacuation or absorption of the vast majority of settlers living outside agreed-upon borders and land-swap areas. For Israelis, this sacrifice is paired with the long-term security benefits of disentanglement from a hostile population.

C. The Pillar of Justice, Refugees, and Reconciliation

The most difficult challenges, rooted in historic grievances and trauma, must be addressed with creative and compassionate solutions.

  • The Status of Jerusalem: A just peace requires shared access and sovereignty in Jerusalem. The consensus approach involves having West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital, with special arrangements for holy sites that guarantee unhindered access and custodianship for all faiths.

  • Refugee Rights: Addressing the Palestinian refugee issue (the "right of return") is paramount for justice. This requires a solution based on UN Resolution 194, which is typically negotiated via a combination of options:

    1. Return to the State of Palestine.

    2. Resettlement in host countries.

    3. Resettlement in third countries.

    4. Limited and controlled return to Israel on humanitarian or family reunification grounds, as a sovereign concession.

    5. Substantial financial compensation for those choosing not to return.

  • Accountability and Reconciliation: A real peace cannot ignore the decades of human rights violations and trauma. It requires a process of transitional justice, including mechanisms for historical truth-telling, accountability for war crimes committed by all sides, and reparations for those who have suffered loss and displacement. This is the moral and psychological foundation needed to rebuild trust between the two peoples.

II. The Sacrifices Required for Both Peoples

Achieving this just and durable peace will require profound and painful sacrifices—not just from political leaders, but from entire populations.

A. Sacrifices Required of Israelis 

  • The Land and Ideological Sacrifice: Israel must make the territorial sacrifice of fully withdrawing from the vast majority of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, dismantling settlements, and establishing a hard border. This means sacrificing the ideological dream of a "Greater Israel" for the pragmatic security of a democratic Jewish state.

  • The Security Risk: Israelis must accept the inherent security risk that comes with ceding territory and relying on international guarantees and a demilitarized Palestinian state. This is a difficult shift from unilateral military control to a cooperative security model.

  • The Symbolic Concessions: Israel must make symbolic concessions on the refugee issue, acknowledging its role in the 1948 displacement and agreeing to a negotiated framework for return and compensation, even if the primary place of return is the new State of Palestine.

  • The Internal Rift: The peace process will necessitate an internal political rift as the government faces opposition from those who refuse to withdraw from the West Bank, potentially leading to significant domestic instability.

B. Sacrifices Required of Palestinians 

  • The Sacrifice of the "Full Right of Return": Palestinians must make the painful concession of accepting that the full, unconditional "right of return" of all refugees to their original homes in what is now Israel is not politically or practically achievable. The vast majority of the return will be to the new Palestinian state, in exchange for compensation.

  • The Land Sacrifice: Palestinians must accept minor and mutual land swaps—likely less than $4\%$ of the West Bank—to accommodate the largest, contiguous settlement blocs in exchange for equivalent Israeli territory. This is a sacrifice of land to achieve a viable state.

  • The Security Commitment: The Palestinian state must make an absolute and verifiable commitment to demilitarization, ending all armed resistance against Israel and establishing new security forces that will cooperate with international monitors to guarantee Israel's security.

  • The Sacrifice of Unification: Palestinian society must overcome its own political divisions, disarm existing militant groups (like Hamas), and unify under a single, internationally recognized, democratic government committed to coexistence. This internal political sacrifice is essential for state viability.

Conclusion

A real and just peace requires both sides to trade maximalist claims for sustainable security and justice. For Israelis, it is the sacrifice of territory and unilateral security control for durable international legitimacy and long-term demography. For Palestinians, it is the sacrifice of the maximalist refugee demand and the means of armed struggle for full sovereignty, statehood, and the end of occupation. The path is a painful political and emotional divorce that allows two national narratives to finally live side-by-side, governed by shared interests rather than historic fear.

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