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The Two-state solution is the mainstream in the governmental policies towards the Arab-Israeli conflict, see here, e.g.:

A “peaceful and just solution” to the Israel-Palestine conflict can “only be achieved” through two States “living side-by-side in peace and security”, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated on Friday.

It is also quite easy to find the data for the public support for the two-state solution - e.g., see here.

However, it is not clear how this support compares to the support for other outcomes, which seem to be widely considered by those passionate about the conflict. Notably:

  • One-state solution (bi-national state where Jews, Palestinian Arabs and others enjoy equal rights)
  • Palestine "from the river to the sea"
  • Tree state solution (incorporating Gaza into Egypt and West Bank into Jordan)
  • Greater Israel (incorporation of West Bank and Gaza into Israel, without giving rights to Palestinians or after their expulsion to other Arab countries)
  • Preserving the status quo indefinitely

The last three are admittedly fringe proposals, typical for the extreme right-wing or conspiracy theories. However, one-state solution is almost a respectable option:

According to a 2017 survey, support for a one-state solution stands at 36% among Palestinians, 19% among Israeli Jews and 56% among Israeli Arabs. However, interest in a one-state solution is growing as the two-state approach has not managed to reach a final agreement.

"From the river to the sea" is also likely to have wide support among those who regard Hamas as a Palestinian liberation movement.

Perhaps western pollsters are reluctant to inquire about these proposals, since they imply the dissolution of the state of Israel and another genocide of the Jewish people, and thus go against the government policies and the accepted international norms (principles of self-determination, respect of Israeli sovereignty, etc.), but the two are definitely supported by many. So, are there any data comparing the support for these different options? (I am mostly interested in western countries, especially the Palestinian supporters.)

Related
What alternatives to a two-state solution have members of the Israeli Right proposed?
How many Congressional Democrats support a one-state solution?

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  • @Rushi I am open to other scenarios. Note that Europeans had fought for millenia to come out with the current borders, while Arab and Jewish nationalism are only about a century old. In general, the straight borders in the ME maps are mostly still those drawn by Sykes and Picot, without regard for ethnic, religious, economic and geographic particularities.
    – Morisco
    Commented Dec 5, 2023 at 7:17
  • 2
    There is nothing fringe about the last item (status quo), let alone right-wing. (And none of the points are conspiratorial, even if fringe and right-wing). It is merely an expected outcome when neither side gives up, and is the default position for those who don't care enough. Its minor variation: let it be for now, until the balance changes somehow in the future, and then we'll decide.
    – Zeus
    Commented Dec 7, 2023 at 23:27
  • "The last three are admittedly fringe proposals." Preserving the status quo is neither fringe nor right-wing. Indeed, it is the proposal most likely to happen. A "tree state" solution (I've never heard that term, but it isn't a bad one) is also neither fringe nor right-wing, it just isn't popular with the Israelis, the Palestinians, Jordan, or Egypt. "Palestine "from the river to the sea"" is a widely held but very fringe and politically extreme position. "Greater Israel" is right-wing, but not really fringe. The "One-State" solutions is a left leaning proposal that will never happen.
    – ohwilleke ♦
    Commented Mar 18 at 23:14
  • @ohwilleke there is also the "Sinai solution/Greater Gaza" - what I meant by "fringe" is that certain solutions were out of the mainstream politics, even if some of them have broad public support. E.g., few peace-processors would admit that they favor preserving the status quo, even if in practice they have been doing it for decades. Also, I had in mind mostly the political thinking in pre-October 7 world - it has clearly evolved since then.
    – Morisco
    Commented Mar 19 at 8:26

1 Answer 1

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Here's a poll by YouGov from May 2023, conducted in Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, and USA:

enter image description here

According to YouGov's own text summary:

The dominant proposal for peace in the conflict is a ‘two-state solution’, which would see an independent state of Palestine coexisting alongside the state of Israel. [...] Such a resolution is popular in the West, with at least half in each country (51-60%) support a ‘two state solution’ to the conflict, with just 6-15% opposed.

An alternative ‘one state solution’, whereby a settlement is reached for Israelis and Palestinians to live together in a single state, is rejected, with only 17-29% in each country saying they would support it, in each case a lower figure than the number opposed (31-43%).

What is clear is that the current situation is unsatisfactory – only 9-20% support things remaining as they are.

Looking only at those who say the Israel-Palestine conflict matters a great deal or fair amount to them – who are likely to be more knowledgeable on the issue than those for whom it matters little or not at all – shows the same trend. A majority (66-76%) support a two-state solution, while far fewer back a one-state solution (25-39%) or things remaining as they are (10-27%).

Somewhat surprisingly to me, the 'one-state solution' had the most support... in the USA. So, I do wonder if the respondents understood the concept in the same way as it was phrased e.g. in the PSR poll you've quoted in the Q. The exact wording in the YouGov poll was "‘One state solution’, where there is a single state including both Israelis and Palestinians", but this makes no mention of equal rights. Alas, the answers there are not split by US party (even in the pdf version), so I'm unclear whether the 'one state' as described there is favored more on the left or right of the US spectrum, given e.g. the criticism levelled at Trump's plan for a Palestinian "state-minus".

As the US is probably the most polled place on earth, we do have an answer to that from another 2023 poll though, published in July.

A new poll published on the eve of Herzog’s address found that, in the absence of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, three-quarters of Americans would choose a democratic Israel that is no longer Jewish over a Jewish Israel that denies full citizenship and equality to non-Jews. [...]

Americans are also increasingly less likely to describe Israel as a democracy. When asked to describe the way Israel looks in a poll conducted between March and April, only 9% of respondents chose “a vibrant democracy,” a common descriptor for Israel among U.S. officialdom. The rest chose “a flawed democracy” (13%), “a state with restricted minority rights” (7%), and “a state with segregation similar to apartheid” (13%). Some 56% responded with “I don’t know.” Shibley Telhami, a Middle East expert at the University of Maryland who conducted the poll, tells TIME that the percentage of “don’t knows” was surprising. He says that this suggests that those polled “are either uncertain or they’re uncomfortable answering.”

This one also had results split by US party:

enter image description here

So yeah, most US respondents, even most Republicans seem to prefer a democratic, even if non-Jewish-majority Israel as 2nd best option (to two states).

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  • from May 2023 I suspect if there were anything newer you'd have it?
    – Just Me
    Commented Dec 5, 2023 at 0:35
  • 1
    @JustMe: something newer just from the US surely exists. OTOH multi-nation polls like the YouGov one (10,000 persons combined sample) are expensive, and seldom conducted more than once a year. Anyhow, people here can write other answers, it's the nature of SX.
    – got trolled too much this week
    Commented Dec 5, 2023 at 4:56
  • @JustMe: also, keep in mind that the OP wrote "I am mostly interested in western countries, especially the Palestinian supporters". Spain would qualify more than the US, in recent months, at least on a gov't level.
    – got trolled too much this week
    Commented Dec 5, 2023 at 5:03
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    Somewhat surprisingly to me, the 'one-state solution' had the most support... in the USA. - The US being a secular state is their frame of reference - so most Americans would indeed support Muslims, Jews, Christians of that region living in the same country, like they do.
    – sfxedit
    Commented Dec 6, 2023 at 12:25
  • @sfxedit: yeah, given that the US held their melting pot to be working, I should have been less surprised. And that seems to be going somewhat in circles, e.g. "Multiculturalism Debated In The U.S. And Abroad" npr.org/2010/10/25/130812557/… about 100 years later.
    – got trolled too much this week
    Commented Dec 6, 2023 at 12:27

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