Washington should tell Netanyahu it’s a two-state solution or nothing

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu arrived in Washington Monday for a three-day visit that will include an address to a joint session of Congress. Netanyahu wants this visit to improve his dismal standing in Israel and restore some of the luster to relations with the U.S., which have been strained over Gaza.  

The U.S. should do nothing to shore up Netanyahu. He needs to hear directly and repeatedly that the way he has conducted the war in Gaza serves neither America’s nor Israel’s long-term interests in the region and the U.S. will not support stop-gap measures in Gaza that do not lead to a long-term political resolution of the fundamental Palestinian-Israeli issue. 

Netanyahu and his extremist cabinet ministers’ post-Oct. 7 pursuit of Hamas in Gaza has not only been done without any strategic plan in mind but has also violated the first rule of holes, which is that if you find yourself in one stop digging.  

The Israeli military has dug holes all over Gaza as its explosives have destroyed a substantial part of the area’s built environment, including hospitals, schools, houses and stores. It has also been digging holes in what had been generally positive views of Israel found particularly in the developed world, but also elsewhere, including in some of the Sunni countries of the Middle East. 

Israel’s ongoing attacks in Gaza in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities have created a massive hole that threatens to become an infection of radicalism and extremist violence that could spread around the region and possibly beyond. And yet Netanyahu and his extremist cabinet colleagues have no vision for what strategic goals all this violence is supposed to achieve beyond destroying Hamas — and by many accounts that goal remains beyond reach. 

The U.S. and others have been looking for an off-ramp for the violence that could produce regional support for a process to stabilize and rebuild Gaza and address a political settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli issue that promotes stability, security and prosperity.  

For the U.S. and others, this means a two-state solution, which would give the Palestinians a stake in building that stability, security and prosperity — and give others in the region a reason to rebuild what Israel has destroyed.  

Netanyahu and his cabinet reject a two-state solution, as to be fair, do many others in Israel in the wake of Oct. 7.  They say in light of Hamas’s brutal attack that Israel needs to be able to meet its security needs by establishing buffer zones in Gaza and by allowing Israeli forces to enter Gaza whenever they feel the need.  

Washington policymakers need to be clear with Netanyahu that the U.S. will not support Israel‘s post-war security demands if they are not part of a process that leads to a two-state solution.  

Israel’s security is important, but we have decades of experience demonstrating that allowing Israel to have its way on security issues in Gaza and the West Bank without dealing with the fundamental political issue of Palestinian rights is a recipe for ongoing cycles of violence. 

The devastation and destruction in Gaza, as well as the post-Oct. 7 trauma in Israel, have raised the stakes for those in the region and beyond. The moonscape of Gaza has great potential to radicalize people in Gaza and around the region.  

This is not a time for palliative care of the Palestinian-Israeli issue; it is a time to attack the roots of the problem. A two-state solution that has economic, political and security support from countries in the region and major powers outside the region can break the cycles of violence that have lasted for going on eight decades.   

The U.S. should be a strong partner for an Israel that commits to moving down the path to a two-state solution. But Washington policymakers should make clear to Netanyahu this week that if he rejects this approach then his interests and America’s will diverge and the U.S. government will not bail him out with either financing or political capital.  

It is past time for Netanyahu to stop digging a bigger hole in Gaza and to start working with those who want to ensure that events like Oct. 7 and the razing of Gaza never happen again.

Ken Brill is a retired foreign service officer who served as an ambassador in the Clinton and Bush administrations.