12 | OCTOBER 14 • 2021 

in the news
Two-State Solution 
Is Best Path to Peace
I

n 1990, as a 29-year-old grad-
uate student at the University 
of Michigan, I helped orga-
nize an interfaith delegation to 
Israel and Palestine. When I 
returned from the trip — my 
first to the region — I wrote an 
op-ed for the Detroit Jewish News 
urging my fellow 
American Jews to 
speak out in sup-
port of a two-state 
solution and an end 
to the occupation.
I asked, “Why 
don’t we join thou-
sands of courageous 
Israelis in opposing their govern-
ment’s policy when it runs counter 
to Israel’s own interests and deni-
grates the Jewish people’s centuries 
of struggle against injustice?”
It was, at the time, a radical 
position in our community, and 
one that didn’t earn me a lot of 
friends among some powerful 
American Jewish organizations. 
Today, though, supporting a two-
state solution isn’t just noncon-
troversial — it sometimes seems 
banal and even meaningless.
In recent years, saying one 
supports a two-state solution has 
become like offering “thoughts 
and prayers” in the wake of a 
mass shooting. People say they 
support two states, but the words 
are not connected to any deeds; 
and actions that endanger the 
possibility of a viable Palestinian 
state are often met with silence.
We don’t have time to not act 
anymore, nor can we avert our 
gaze. America must reassert its 
long-dormant role in bringing 
these two parties together and 
helping create the conditions for 
real peace and security.
Earlier this year, we witnessed 

a conflict in Israel and Gaza that 
cost hundreds of lives and caused 
devastating damage to homes 
and livelihoods, worsening Gaza’s 
humanitarian crisis. We saw 
riots erupt in Israeli towns once 
applauded as models of peaceful 
coexistence between Jews and 
Palestinians. All of this occurred 
against the backdrop of a deepen-
ing occupation in the Palestinian 
territories that, if continued 
unabated, will foreclose the possi-
bility of a viable Palestinian state 
altogether.
As we enter a new year in the 
Jewish calendar, I believe we must 
also enter a new chapter. It is ser-
endipitous that we find ourselves 
at the outset of a shmita year. 
According to [Hazon’s] Shmita 
Project, “During this seventh 
year, God commands us to let the 
land rest, release debts, resolve 
disputes, and to open our hands 
and hearts to those in need.
” 
As a Jew and a member of 
Congress, I feel compelled to do 
what I can to resolve a dispute 
that has cost thousands of lives 
and torn at the Jewish commu-
nity for decades and work more 
urgently to ensure Israel’s future as 
a democratic state and homeland 
for the Jewish people is secure and 
Palestinians’ aspirations for a state 
of their own can be fulfilled.

PROGRESS TOWARD PEACE
That is why I have introduced 
the Two-State Solution Act, a bill 
to accelerate progress toward a 
two-state solution and discour-
age steps that push one out of 
reach. It clarifies the distinction 
between Israel and the occu-
pied Palestinian territories and 
reverses policies put in place by 
the Trump administration that 

removed such distinctions.
It also funds programming to 
promote human rights, democ-
racy and rule of law, and to 
strengthen Palestinian civil society 
organizations. On top of that, the 
bill underscores the importance 
of diplomacy, encouraging the 
reopening of the PLO foreign mis-
sion in Washington and enhanc-
ing people-to-people program-
ming for Israelis and Palestinians.
The bill also reaffirms the 
importance of U.S. security assis-
tance to Israel, while making clear 
that there should be robust over-
sight over that assistance, as there 
should be over aid to any country, 
and that the laws authorizing that 
assistance do not permit its use 
for activities that perpetuate the 
occupation or enable the annex-
ation — be it de jure or de facto 
— of the West Bank.
This provision may elicit con-
demnations like the ones I heard 
30 years ago when I spoke out on 
behalf of two states.
Critics will say the bill singles 
out Israel by imposing restric-
tions, even though Congress 
specifies what taxpayer dollars 
may or may not be used for all 
the time. I’ve authored such pro-
visions myself, like one stating 
that no U.S. funding may be 
used for assistance to the Armed 
Forces of Haiti.

They’ll accuse us of taking a 
radical position, even though 
most American Jewish voters 
support restricting assistance to 
Israel to prevent the growth or 
persistence of the occupation, as 
do other Americans.
They’ll say the bill would make 
Israel less safe, even though it 
does not lessen the support the 
United States gives to Israel for its 
security by even one dollar, and 
even though there is no reason 
to believe prolonging the status 
quo — and continuing to curtail 
the rights of the Palestinian peo-
ple — will bring about peace and 
security for Israelis.
Peace with Egypt and returning 
the Sinai improved Israel’s secu-
rity. Peace with Jordan improved 
Israel’s security. The situation 
has gone on for 54 years, and it 
has led to recurring bloodshed, 
increased isolation, and has not 
delivered Israelis’ safety or peace.
The status quo is failing Israelis 
and Palestinians alike. If we are 
to embrace the concept of shmita 
and use this moment to resolve 
disputes, then we cannot eschew 
our responsibility to act to bring 
about peaceful coexistence 
between the Jordan River and the 
Mediterranean Sea. 

Rep. Andy Levin represents the 9th District 

of Michigan and a member of the Foreign 

Affairs Committee.

PURELY COMMENTARY

Rep. Andy 
Levin 

RON KAMPEAS/JTA

Rep. Andy Levin introduces his “Two-State Solution Act” on Capitol Hill 
on Sept. 23, 2021. He is flanked by, from left: Hadar Susskind, the pres-
ident and CEO of Americans for Peace Now; Rep. Alan Lowenthal; Rep. 
Sara Jacobs; Rep. Peter Welch; and J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami. 

