Talk: The Two-state Solution Trap

Alternatives to Partition and Statist Logics in Palestine

This panel will discuss the impasse that the “two-state solution” brings to the struggle for justice and liberation in Palestine. It will analyze the troublesome history of its genesis and specification, its entrenchment in international law, and the political repercussions of the sustained effort to impose it as the only game in town. Furthermore, the panelists will examine alternative political-ethical horizons for framing the question of Palestine and assess their viability.

Speakers:

Dr Dimitri Van Den Meerssche – Senior lecturer in International Law and Fellow of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS) at Queen Mary University of London

Dr Omar Jabary Salamanca – Associate professor of social sciences at the Université libre de Bruxelles

Dr Azar Dakwar – Postdoctoral researcher in religious studies at KU Leuven

Moderated by Haifa Saleh, who is a Palestinian architect and PhD researcher at KU Leuven. Descended from two ethnically cleansed villages, her work focuses on spatial justice and indigenous resistance, she will critically deconstruct this model and foreground alternatives rooted in justice and the rejection of the foundations of settler colonialism.