Who Supports a Two State Solution?

For years, prominent Israeli lawmakers, leaders of the defense establishment and cultural luminaries have voiced their strong support for the two-state solution as the only way to achieve lasting peace and to secure Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people. Here are just a few of the significant and influential figures who have spoken out about the need for two states.

"...at the center of Jewish society in Israel, is a large majority which desires a solution, and is quite ready to compromise on its rights over vast areas of the Land of Israel. [1]"

Yaakov Amridor

Former IDF Major General and National Security Advisor

"I think if our goal is to exist as a state with a Jewish majority, a Jewish state, democratic, safe, in a security sense-strong and legitimate, we have no way out besides separating from the Palestinians, in a secure, responsible way. [2]"

Gabi Ashkenazi

Former IDF Chief of General Staff

"[A] one-state solution is an existential threat to the Zionist project because it leads either to a non-Jewish or non-democratic state. It has to be stopped or blocked. I see no more urgent task for our generation. [3]"

Ehud Barak

Former Prime Minister of Israel

"Anyone who calls himself a Zionist has no other option but to support separation from the Palestinians. [4]"

Omer Bar-Lev

Labor MK

"Israel’s choice is simple and cruel. It either degenerates into an apartheid state where a Jewish minority oppresses the Palestinian majority in a state of permanent civil war, or it switches away from its rightward drift and works for a two-state solution, before it is too late. [5]"

Shlomo Ben Ami

Former Israeli Foreign Minister

"In the Palestinian arena, [Netanyahu’s] policy will lead…to apartheid. For 45 years I have served this country — all of them dedicated to safeguarding its security as a Jewish and Zionist state. I don’t want that dream to disappear. [6]"

Meir Dagan, Z"L

Former Director of the Mossad and IDF Major General

"If we do not make peace with the Palestinians and end the occupation we began 50 years ago, we will cease to live in a country that many of the Zionists, who fought by my side in ’67, would recognize. [7]"

Uzi Eilam

Former Brigadier General and Director General of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission

"The principle of two states for two peoples is a supreme Israeli interest and an existential and security necessity for Israel’s future. [8]"

Avi Gabbay

Labor Party leader and MK

"Peace might sound like a big word, but I don’t accept that the word distances people... We have to tell the public the truth: There is a price but we must pay it so the next generations won’t pay a price in blood [9]"

Zehava Gal-On

Former Meretz leader and MK

"It is no shame to work for peace. I don’t care if there is or isn’t a partner. If we want to work towards something we want to do it, not because of our neighbors, because of us. [10]"

Benny Gantz

Former IDF Chief of General Staff

"Israeli leadership must choose between two strategies. One is to continue the policy of settling and ruling over the entire western part of the Land of Israel...This is the strategy being implemented by the current leadership...This strategy is leading Israel to destruction. [11]"

Shlomo Gazit

Former Israeli Major General, Head of Military Intelligence, and Head of the Jewish Agency

" I stick to the principles laid down in the Israeli declaration of independence which proclaims a Jewish and democratic State. Unfortunately, we live in a bad time for Israeli democracy, and the reason for that is the occupation. [12]"

Carmi Gillon

Former Shin Bet Director

"I also wish these things for our Palestinian friends: a life of independence, freedom, and peace, and building a new, reformed nation. And I wish that in 70 years’ time our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, both Palestinian and Israeli, will stand here and each will sing their version of their national anthem. [13]"

David Grossman

Israeli Author

"...without peace, the survival of the State of Israel, its existence, are in question. [14]"

Efraim Halevy

Former Director of the Mossad

"A two-state solution will ensure Israel continues to exist as a Jewish and democratic state. This is the State of Israel's top priority. [15]
"

Isaac Herzog

Head of the Jewish Agency and Former Labor Party MK

" I actually believe in this current situation that if we had a peace-seeking government in Israel and not the government we have, there would be new chances because the old order is changing - and this change can also come to Israel. [16] "

Etgar Keret

Israeli Author

"It's about time to make agreements. It's time we solidify and determine our final borders. It's time to understand, the 'Arabs' are not a disease, and we need to live with them. [17]"

Amiram Levin

Former Commander of IDF Northern Command

"Two states for two peoples is in the Israeli interest. [18]"

Tzipi Livni

Hatnuah MK

"I believe there can be a solution. I believe such a solution requires sacrifices from both sides. But they are concessions that both sides can live with because the alternative is much, much worse. [19]"

Avi Mizrahi

Former Head of IDF Central Command

"We have to divide the house into two smaller apartments and learn how to say, "good morning" in the hall every day. Eventually, perhaps we will pop in on each other for a cup of coffee. But we need this semi-detached house, a two-family unit. [20]"

Amos Oz

Israeli Author

"Anyone who thinks that over time it’s going to be possible to maintain two classes of population, those with rights and those without rights, is creating a problem for our grandchildren that they won’t be able to cope with. [21]"

Tamir Pardo

Former Director of Mossad

"Israel’s long-term security and Jewish and democratic character can be assured only by separating from the Palestinians in a two-state agreement. [22]"

Amnon Reshef

Retired Israeli Major General, Founder and Chairman of Commanders for Israel’s Security

"...settlements are the greatest security threat. They are the ones that separate us from the possibility of living in our country in peace and weaken the IDF in an unprecedented way. The citizens of Israel deserve a leadership that does not serve the narrow sectarian interests of the settlers. [23]"

Michal Rozin

Meretz MK

"...it’s clear how the compromise will look, and most Israeli and Palestinians – as polls show time after time – are willing to live with it: two states based on the 1967 lines, land swaps, the removal of a small number of settlements, and international supervision of the holy sites. [24]"

Stav Shaffir

Labor MK

"Two states is the solution. On the basis, more or less, of the 1967 borders with a territorial swap. [25]"

Gadi Shamni

Former IDF Major General

"Every intelligent person must understand that the two-state solution is an insurance policy for the State of Israel, the only way the country can save itself from itself. [26]"

Shabtai Shavit

Former Director of the Mossad

"There’s no other way but a two-state solution. We have to divide the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, the conflict can be resolved. [27]"

Gilead Sher

Former Chief of Staff to Ehud Barak

"If there are not two states between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, eventually we’ll have to choose between being a home for the Jewish people and being a democracy, and that will be the end of Zionism. [28]"

Nadav Tamir

Former Israeli Diplomat and Policy Advisor to Shimon Peres

"Without a peace initiative, our situation will increasingly deteriorate. The fighting and violence will continue, the international pressure for the establishment of a bi-national state will grow, and our isolation process will deepen. [29]"

Danny Yatom

Former Labor MK and Director of Mossad

"Despite all the government’s efforts, the two-state solution still has the support of most Israelis. [30] "

Tamar Zandberg

Meretz MK and Chairwoman

[1] Israel’s Inelegant Options in Judea and Samaria (2017)
[2]]Former IDF Chiefs of Staff on Two-State Solution (2018)
[3] Ehud Barak At Talk In NJ: ‘One-State Solution Has To Be Stopped (2018)
[4] Israeli MK blasts “terrible shallow” debate on two-state solution (2015)
[5] Israel at a Crossroads (2017)
[6 ] Ex-Mossad Chief says PM misled Congress on Iran breakout time (2015)
[7] WE WERE THE FIRST TO THE WESTERN WALL IN 1967. 50 YEARS LATER, I’M WORRIED (2017)
[8] Labor chairman Gabbay Calls for Separating From Palestinians with Two-state Solution (2018)
[9] Knesset two-state lobby pleads for new leadership to challenge Netanyahu (2017)
[10] Former IDF Chiefs of Staff on Two-State Solution (2018)
[11] Between the Destruction of the Third Temple and a Realistic Policy (2015)
[12] The Curse of Victory (2017)
[13] ‘Israel is a Fortress but not yet a Home’ (2018)
[14] Six Past Mossad Directors Call for Diplomacy with Palestinians (2018)
[15] Herzog: A two-state solution is Israel’s top priority (2017)
[16] Facebook, Trump and Netanyahu: Author Etgar Keret explains why the world is under threat (2016)
[17] The Commanders: Amiram Levin (2016)
[18] Tzipi Livni: “Two States for Two Peoples is in the Israeli Interest”(2018)
[19] The Commanders: Avi Mizrahi (2016)
[20] Interview with Israeli author Amos Oz (2017)
[21] Six Past Mossad Directors Call for Separating from Palestinians with Two-state Solution (2018)
[22] Debating a Two State Solution for the Middle East (2018)
[23] Lapid Calls MKs ‘Rottweilers’ (2017)
[24] A.B. Yehoshua, Don’t Give Up on the Two-state Solution in Our Name (2018)
[25] The Art of Occupation, According to Israeli General Gadi Shamni (2016)
[26] Trump’s Dangerous Mistake in the Middle East (2018)
[27] Today’s Bleak Prospects for Israeli-Palistinian Peace (2018)
[28] Former Israeli Diplomat Endorses Two-State Solution at Hillel (2018)
[29] Arab-Israeli peace initiative is the only way (2015)
[30] Power, not purity for the Israeli left (2018)