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.