In the framework of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, arguments are usually heard that affirm or threaten that there are alternatives to the physical separation between Palestinians and Israelis. On one side, Hebrew political forces assure that if Israel does not disconnect (agreed unilaterally), creating effectively a Palestinian state, Israel will become an Apartheid state or a bi-national state. The bases of the argument are that there will be no other alternative than to grant citizenship to 2.5 million West Bank Palestinians, dismantling the Palestinian Authority, and corroding the Zionist ideal of being the “national cradle of the Jewish people with a Jewish majority”. It would be a bi-national state with 7 million Jews and 4.2 million Arab-Palestinians (adding West Bank plus those with Israeli citizenship). The alternative to bi-nationalism is to forcefully maintain the Zionist dream by imposing an Apartheid regime, where Arab-Palestinian citizens are legally discriminated. While transiting this way, a democratic regime should be imposed by force as well, as this spirit and customs are not abundant in the Palestinian Authority. For this to happen, an Israeli government would have to decide to “suicide” the Zionist dream, annexing all territories of the West Bank and their citizens. Naftali Bennet (one of the main nationalist leaders), for example, proposes to annex only territory C (60% of the territory and 5% of the Palestinians).
Every now and then, Palestinians threaten to close down the Palestinian Authority and “hand over the keys” to Israel. The truth is that the Palestinian leadership will not detach easily from power and the economic benefits derived from this authority. It is not believable either that Israel will accept to re-impose a military government on the Palestinians like before Oslo. There are two real alternatives to the current situation (2019): 1) creating two Palestinian states, one in Gaza and one in the West Bank; 2) a Palestinian state in Gaza and another confederation, West Bank with Jordan.