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publications

Un Etat Commun entre le Jourdain et la mer (with Eric Hazan) La fabrique 2012

A Common State Between the River Jordan and the Sea, by Eric Hazan and Eyal Sivan
XXp ISBN: La fabrique Editions Paris, 2012

Three quarters of a century have passed since the ﬁrst partition plan was drawn up to constitute two separate states, one Jewish, the other Arab. Since then, an interminable circus of peace talks, declarations, resolutions, missions, “road maps”, and relaunches of the “peace process” has trundled on, but without ever getting us any closer to the professed aim of “two states existing peacefully and in security side by side”. The thesis of this incisive and provocative essay is that this is no accident, for the invocation of two states is in no way a solution but rather a discourse. Moreover, it is a warlike discourse that serves to justify the “facts on the ground” today and the faits accomplish to come tomorrow. The discourse is a useful one because it can never achieve a real solution, because this very supposed solution – the partition of Palestine – is simply impossible to achieve.
Eric Hazan and Eyal Sivan argue that the only way forward is for a common sharing of the land by all who inhabit it, as free and equal citizens. Many argue that this is a utopia, but also that it is a menacing prospect. Clearly, it cannot be both. Hazan and Sivan reject this false opposition – on the contrary, it is the only realistic and realizable scenario for the current situation.