On the first day of the new year, a small delegation will be paying a visit to the settlement of Efrat in the Etzion bloc. The group will be led by Dan Goldenblatt, co-CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI), which is working to create a Palestinian state. Goldenblatt will present ​to about 20 residents a new outline to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: two states in one space, instead of the old familiar two states for two peoples solution, which both parties have been trying to implement ever since the Oslo Accord.

The new outline, representing an interesting effort to think outside the box, was launched last month after being formulated over the past year by Israeli and Palestinian researchers over dozens of meetings and in-depth studies. According to this outline, an independent Palestinian state would be established on 22% of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River alongside the State of Israel, which would control 78% of the territory. The two states will integrate of their own accord in a common space, share infrastructures and remove separation barriers, making it almost unnecessary to uproot residents from their land.

Other attempts were made last year to develop alternative proposals to the two-state solution. In October, Arad Nir wrote in Al-Monitor that a team of Israeli and Palestinian experts had formulated over the past few years a new peace proposal. Instead of partitioning the land into two separate states, Israel and Palestine would be parallel and overlapping states occupying the same geographic area.

Goldenblatt is a familiar activist on the Israeli left. For the past three years he has served as co-CEO of the Jerusalem-based IPCRI, sharing the position with Riman Barakat, a Palestinian woman from Beit Hanina. The organization was founded in 1988, during the first intifada and before the 1993 Oslo Accord era. It advocated a two-state solution. Given the developments of the past few years, however, IPCRI changed its approach and began looking for new ideas to resolve the conflict. Now, the organization's members are embarking on a long journey across Israeli society, meeting with politicians from all parties. Their goal is to reach the hearts and minds of the Israeli public, which is long exhausted with attempts to reconcile with the Palestinians.