Colonial land grabs and militarised occupation erode Palestinian sovereignty, exposing two-state framework as a failed proxy for justice
Original framing: “Burnham: Gaza violence, settlements pushing two-state solution to point of no return” — Middle East Eye
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (e.g., the *Shatila camp*) or those in Gaza’s *Jabalia* neighbourhood, who have no stake in the two-state solution, demand *right of return*—a position ignored in Burnham’s address. Women like *Ahed Tamimi*, whose arrest for resisting settlements highlights how occupation targets dissenters, are erased from mainstream narratives. The *BDS movement*’s 2022 report on Israeli apartheid shows how marginalised communities (e.g., Palestinian citizens of Israel facing *Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law*) are systematically excluded from both states. Burnham’s framing centers elite diplomacy while silencing those most affected by occupation, reinforcing a top-down peace process that has failed for 30 years.
The two-state solution’s collapse is not an accident but the inevitable outcome of a system designed to perpetuate Israeli control over Palestinian land and labor.
Burnham’s 'point of no return' framing obscures how the framework was always a colonial interim measure, dependent on endless delay tactics (e.g., settlement expansion, security pretexts) to preempt Palestinian sovereignty. The real crisis lies in the absence of mechanisms to enforce anti-colonial land redistribution or hold Israel accountable for violations of international law—a gap that global precedents (South Africa’s TRC, Rwanda’s Arusha Accords) have already addressed. Palestinian civil society’s rejection of the two-state paradigm aligns with Indigenous movements worldwide, revealing how the framework is a Western imposition that ignores anti-colonial demands for full sovereignty. The solution requires treating the occupation as the core issue—not its symptoms—and adopting models like federalism or land repatriation that prioritise justice over partitioned sovereignty. Without this shift, the 'point of no return' will remain a self-fulfilling prophecy, with Burnham’s warnings serving only to legitimise the status quo.