THE “TWO-STATE” SOLUTION – THAT WAS ONCE IN EUROPE!

As countries  trip over each other to recognise a Palestinian state, do they care they are midwifing a giant military base to perpetuate endless jihadi war?

By Dr. Gad Amar

The past failure of coexistence between two states, Christian and Muslim, in the same European country should give pause for thought, particularly to Europeans, and even more so to the French and Spanish, who were the first to be affected. This reflection is all the more necessary now that France announced on July 24, 2025, its intention to submit a draft resolution in favor of the creation of the State of Palestine at the next session of the UN General Assembly, to be held from September 9 to 23, 2025. In practice, this draft resolution aims to impose the coexistence of two states, Jewish and Muslim, on a small territory of 28,165 km² in the Middle East, comprising the State of Israel (22,145 km²) and the “Palestinian territories” (6,020 km²), controlled by Israel. The European country that has experienced such coexistence is Spain.

Long before France’s announcement, a large majority of countries had already recognized the State of Palestine. The process, which began in Algiers on November 15, 1988, had gained the support of 75 states in the days that followed. By February 5, 2025, 148 of the 193 UN member states had already recognized the State of Palestine. The announcement of France’s plan ultimately convinced many European countries to join in, against the backdrop of the current war in Gaza and strong pro-Palestinian unrest among Muslims and left-wing extremists in European countries (see the list of countries recognizing the State of Palestine on Wikipedia).

“THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERYTHING UNDER HEAVEN” (Ecclesiastes, 3:1)

French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to create a Palestinian state, inspired by empathy for the Palestinians but nonetheless marked by a certain casualness, is in any case flawed by a stubborn underestimation of the current situation. It could be motivated by France’s desire to position itself at the center of the game of influence among foreign powers in the Middle East. Having lost all influence in its relationship with Françafrique, then in its efforts at arbitration in Lebanon, France is trying its luck again by antagonizing Israel.

The proclamation or theoretical creation of a Palestinian state as part of the two-state solution is not a good solution for either side today. The clamor rising from pro-Palestinian demonstrations around the world demands a single, exclusively Palestinian state, and no one will be able to quell this fanatical fervor, which has its roots in a jihadist heritage. And barring a miracle, it is difficult to imagine that a young Palestinian state would escape totalitarian, fundamentalist, and corrupt rule. As in all dictatorships around the world, this regime would have no choice but to legitimize itself by presenting its people with a perpetual, fantasized enemy, Israel, thereby justifying jihad. It would be no better for its people than the Hamas government in Gaza or the Islamic State of Iran.

The proof? This ideal state could have come into being in the Gaza Strip, which has been free since 2007, self-governing and aided by the entire world, including Israel. The West Bank operates according to an identical ideology. It is the path of jihad that reigns in both territories, destroying any hope of tolerance and peaceful coexistence with Israel. And since the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, nothing has changed, neither in the rhetoric nor in the actions of the Palestinians or their leaders.

If they had a state, would they renounce jihad, a fundamental principle of their religion that is now deeply ingrained in them? It is essential to ensure this before granting them a country that could, as was the case in Gaza, become a military base for the perpetual war that is jihad.

But through the voice of its president, France does not seem to care about a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the Palestinian people. It pits Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims, against each other in a situation that promotes neither peace nor prosperity. Antisemitism has become the norm in France, but the president ignores it. This casual attitude reflects the president’s headlong rush forward in the face of the very complicated economic and political situation in which he has placed his country.

“WHY DO THE NATIONS CONSPIRE, AND THE PEOPLES PLOT IN VAIN?” (Psalm 2:1)

The almost daily pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Western Christian countries, where there is a visible Jewish community, but not in Muslim countries with no Jewish population, testify to their antisemitic nature. If we go further, we see the outdated Christian theology of substitution in its Muslim version, still alive in the Ummah (the Muslim people), proclaimed “the best” of all by the Koran (3:110). This theology, a deeply rooted legacy, fuels the fantasy of social substitution for Jews in the suburbs. Regarding “this sweet poison”, a modern commentator on the Quran (Dr. Al-Ajami) writes:

“What could be more comforting when you are at the bottom of the social ladder, and what could be more triumphant when you are at the top?”

Originally, this was a deviation from the status of “chosen people” granted to the people of Israel by the One God, and expressed in the Bible, at a time when the only monotheistic people were the people of Israel. All those who choose the One God, Father of all men without distinction, are in fact also chosen by God.

This fantasy of substitution is at the root of this campaign to reverse values and roles, in which Palestinians, the instigators and perpetrators of the genocide of October 7, 2023, are transformed into victims of imaginary apartheid and genocide.

A HUNDRED-YEAR WAR AND ITS ROOTS

Mr. Macron expects French Jews to adhere to his project, in accordance with their universalist tradition. It is true that there is a Jewish universalist tradition of a future messianic world in which peoples will live in peace with one another. Two universalist currents coexist today within Judaism: those who believe that this time is already present and those who believe that it has not yet come. The former were barbarically and atrociously massacred by Hamas on October 7, 2023; only the latter remain, who are contemptuously referred to as “messianists.”

Some proclaim that this war has gone on too long, having lasted for nearly two years. In reality, it began with the pogroms perpetrated by Muslims against Jews in 1929. It is therefore approaching its hundredth anniversary and can be compared to another hundred-year war in the Holy Land 25 centuries ago. Returning from a 50-year exile in Babylonia after the edict of Cyrus in 539 BC, the Jews suffered 100 years of harassment from foreign populations settled in the Holy Land by Assyrian invaders and other populations recently established in the country. This century only ended with the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, which finally ensured the safety of the inhabitants and allowed the city to develop.

The unrest in the Muslim world over the war in Gaza stems from one of their rules, which forbids Jews from defending themselves if they are attacked.

There is another rule: the pre-Islamic period in Arabia is called Jahiliyya, meaning “ignorance”. According to this principle, everything that preceded Islam must be forgotten and erased. This is the case with Judaism.

THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION IN LIGHT OF EUROPEAN HISTORY

The reflection we propose here is a priori neutral, because Christian Spaniards and Muslim jihadists, notably the Almohads, mistreated the Jews of Spain with equal inhumanity.

The Spanish tyrannized the Jews on the eve of the invasion of Spain by Arab armies (forced conversions, prohibition of synagogues), then expelled them in 1492, out of religious intolerance and antisemitism. Muslims subjected Jews to the abuse of dhimma, a form of “protection” granted to citizens who had previously been declared illegal on the pretext that they had not adhered to a new religion imposed by violent and illiterate combatants.

The lessons of European history should serve everyone, especially Europeans. It is a matter of reviving memories of a tumultuous European past, specifically Spain’s past, in which the two-state solution, one Christian and the other Muslim, could not flourish.

The story begins in 711 when four-fifths of Spain and southern France are invaded by Arab jihadists supported by recently Islamized Berbers. The Arabs were stopped in France by Charles Martel in 732. The fifth, which remained independent, rose up in 1037, after three centuries of occupation, for a war of reconquest that would last four and a half centuries (1037-1492). Spain could have accommodated the presence, since 1350, of the Muslim kingdom of Granada in the south, which was less threatening than in the past and placed under the tutelage of the Christian kingdom of Castile. But history, undoubtedly marked by violence, led it to eradicate it. We must not delude ourselves: the jihadists of the past were no better than those of today, whether ISIS or Hamas. The Spanish undoubtedly believed that the demon of jihad could one day reawaken – and with greater force – from the kingdom of Granada.

The Muslim jihad that led to the conquest of Spain between 711 and 716 was followed by the Christian crusade that reclaimed the entire country in 1492. But history had not yet had its final say. Jihad continued at sea through the activities of pirates and privateers for three centuries, between Spain and other European countries on one side, and Morocco and Algeria on the other, with the Ottoman Empire entering the fray. Although the jihad of the North African corsairs no longer sought to conquer Christian lands in Western Europe after 1492, the Ottoman Empire was already filling the gap, having begun the conquest of Christian countries in Eastern Europe in the 15th century. Twice, Ottoman jihadists attacked Vienna, in 1529 and then in 1683, but without success, and their advance into the heart of Europe was thus halted. Can we imagine how far they would have gone if they had succeeded in either of their two sieges of the city?

This long history must be pondered. Christian Europe must not forget that it was only by a miracle that it was able to recover its territorial integrity and security.

Today, Western Europe, including Spain, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, is considering voting to create a Palestinian state, without even ensuring that it will not be jihadist, leaving Israel alone with the impossible task of eradicating this philosophy of Islam, particularly among Palestinians. One observation should challenge all these states, especially Spain: could we now envisage a two-state solution in Europe, more specifically in Spain, not for the Palestinians, but for the descendants of the Arabs expelled from Spain by the Reconquista five centuries ago? Why should those who were expelled five centuries ago have fewer rights than some of the Palestinian Arabs who were expelled for the same reasons more than 75 years ago? Why not at least give the Arabs expelled from Spain their former kingdom of Granada back?

It should be remembered that the Semites introduced civilization to Spain, in the literal sense, twenty centuries before the Christian era, and that their presence thus lasted thirty-five centuries. This presence is attested to by the names of several major cities on the Iberian Peninsula, from north to south, from Barcelona to Cadiz, and from east to west, from Almería to Lisbon. The very name of Spain, formerly Hispalis, derives from the “Great Baal”, Eth-Baal, celebrated by the name of the “River of the Great”, the Guad-al-Quivir, which flows through the city of Seville. This river is comparable to the river Kébar of Babylonia, mentioned by Ezekiel, in Akkadian Naru-Kabari, and to the Nahr al-Kabir, on the northern border of Lebanon with Syria. The original name of Seville is Esh-bilia, which also refers to Eth-Baal.

Europe, Spain, and France would do well to reflect on the long history of their own countries, for no one knows what tomorrow may bring.

THE JEWISH STATE IN MINITURE

Christian Europe was attacked by jihad on two fronts: in the west by jihadists from Morocco and in the east by the Ottomans. Europe was caught in a pincer movement by this merciless war. Israel is now similarly caught in a pincer movement, in the west by Hamas’ jihad in Gaza and in the east by Fatah’s jihad in the West Bank.

Europe today faces a serious challenge due to the massive immigration of Muslims who are committed to their religion, which is their right. But fundamentalists are also part of the mix. Similarly, Israel is challenged by Israeli Arabs, a minority of whom identify primarily as Palestinian and are represented by elected officials who are largely anti-Israeli.

Western Europe must not believe that its support for the creation of a Palestinian state in the Holy Land will permanently remove the Islamist threats it faces. Such support will not be enough to remove the Islamist threats it faces.

A COMMON STRUGGLE

The fight against jihad is everyone’s business, and first and foremost that of Muslims themselves. With its ignorant and barbaric followers on the ground, this movement that claims to represent Allah has become an irreparable offense to Allah. It damages the image and sanctity in Islam, which should above all be a religion of peace and brotherhood with all humanity, and especially with the other two monotheistic religions.

Christians believe that the Son of God sacrificed himself for humans; Muslims believe that human sacrifice pleases God. Instead of such sacrifices, human beings should first love and tolerate one another, letting God do his work without seeking to take His place.

*Feature picture: The map above is a tongue‐in‐cheek (and purely satirical) take on the Israeli–Palestinian “two‐state solution.” It color‐codes only two “states” Spain (in yellow) and Portugal (in purple) then shades almost the entire globe (including Israel/Palestine) as “Portugal.”

About the writer:

Dr. Gad Amar, Chirurgien retraité, hébraïsant et arabisant, auteur d’études juives en hébreu et en français .
(Dr. Gad Amar, retired surgeon, Hebraist and Arabist, author of Jewish studies in Hebrew and French.)

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