Daniel Lubetzky

I received this email from Gidi Grinstein, who I consider to be one of the brightest people I’ve ever met, and certainly one of the most  widely respected Israeli thinkers.  His Reut Institute firmly supports a two-state solution, and yet he has come to believe that can only come about through coordinated unilateralism because both the Israeli and Palestinian governments have structural, constitutional, and leadership impediments to pass through what would be necessary on either side to achieve a negotiated agreement.  Read his entire note:

Dear friends and supporters,

This email introduces Reut’s most recent strategic framework on the diplomatic and political opportunity that faces Israel in the United Nations this week, as an outcome of the Palestinian motion to recognize the Palestinian Authority as a state and accept it as a full member-state of the United Nations (Click here).

The Reut team, and specifically Roy Keidar, Reut’s new CEO and former Legal Advisor of the Israel’s National Security Council, and I, have been working hard behind the scenes for the past months, weeks and days, to introduce these ideas to top decision-makers, as well as to prepare for the aftermath of this Palestinian UN motion, which may include renewed efforts to de-legitimize Israel. We are now in NYC in part for this reason.

In a nutshell, we believe that Israel can leverage the Palestinian motion and pin down the principle of two-states-for-two-people, which has been a central objective of present and past Israeli governments. This will allow Israel to manage the process of establishing a Palestinian state in optimal conditions that not only address its major security and diplomatic concerns, but also allow for diluting Palestinian refugeeism and strengthening the status of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. These achievements are conditioned on Israel making a credible win-win offer to the Palestinians so that they too have historic achievements. These ideas are detailed in our paper.

For the past five years and since Hamas electoral victory in January 2006, Reut has consistently argued that ‘constructive and coordinated unilateralism’ is the only viable path for political progress between Israelis and Palestinians toward security and coexistence, and that all attempts to negotiate comprehensive agreements are unfortunately doomed to fail, as the case has been.

Therefore, we concluded a few years ago that the establishment of a Palestinian state would have to be through an act of declaration and recognition, which is exactly what is unfolding in the United Nations. Hence, Israel’s opportunity this week to create a political breakthrough, which is a win-win and good for the Palestinians as well.

It is no coincidence that de-legitimizing groups such as the Electronic Intifada are quoting Reut in their fight against the Palestinian motion in the UN (click here), as they principally oppose the Two-State Solution or any motion that explicitly or implicitly recognizes the right of the Jewish people to self-determination.

In the coming few days, we will send you a more comprehensive overview of the recent history that led to this milestone, covering Reut’s different efforts for the past seven years.

With best wishes of Shana Tova,

Gidi