u/Yakyaktak

Most two-state proposals assume two separate enclaves, Gaza and the West Bank, linked by a corridor, bridge, or tunnel across Israeli territory. I want to float a single-territory alternative and get feedback, especially from Palestinians and policy analysts.

The concept:

A 1:1 territorial exchange: the entire Gaza Strip (~365 km²) goes to Israel, and Israel transfers an equal area of contiguous sovereign land to the Palestinian state.

To illustrate the idea, I sketched one 365 km² block in the Lakhish hills, directly west of the Hebron Hills. Its eastern edge is the Green Line, from south of the Ela Valley down to just north of Kibbutz Lahav. Its western edge runs about 5 km east of Kiryat Gat. It would join the West Bank along Tarqumiya, Idna, Beit Awwa, and adh-Dhahiriya.

Note: This is a sketch to illustrate the concept, not the only way to do this. Also, this is not a surveyed boundary where I can account for every millimeter. It is illustrative only.

Why consider it?

1. Contiguity. One unified Palestinian state bordering Israel and Jordan, with no extraterritorial transit corridor through Israel.

2. Simpler border. A single line is easier to agree on and enforce than two separated enclaves.

3. Rebuilding. Given the destruction, unexploded ordnance, and aquifer contamination in Gaza, largely open land next to the West Bank would allow planned urban development from the start.

The obvious problems

This means roughly two million Gazans relocating. That isn't a detail. It could only happen as a consented part of a negotiated final-status agreement, never imposed, and I recognize that for many people this alone ends the conversation.

The block isn't empty either. It contains no city, but it does contain about a dozen small kibbutzim and moshavim, whose residents would have to move. These include Bnei Dekalim, Neta, and Karmei Katif - all built for families evacuated from Gaza in 2005, who would be asked to move a second time.

It also contains the sites of Palestinian villages depopulated in 1948, including Bayt Jibrin and al-Dawayima.

(The reverse model: I also considered the opposite direction swap of this idea: swapping West Bank territory for a much larger Gaza to form a coastal state. That keeps sea access and the Egyptian border, but given the West Bank's population and size, and the attachment to East Jerusalem and Hebron, it seems far less viable. ).

My big questions (for Palestinians especially):

1. Could contiguous land joined to the West Bank compensate for losing the Mediterranean coast, offshore gas (Gaza Marine), and the Egyptian border?

2. How much does Gaza's specific location matter, as opposed to the overall viability of the state?

3. Does it change anything that this land includes 1948 village sites, or does that make it worse?

On this day in history, October 2, 1938: Arab attackers massacred 19 Jews in Tiberias, including 11 children, during the Arab revolt in British Mandatory Palestine.

The attack began around 9 p.m. Telephone lines were cut and roads were blocked. Armed attackers struck government buildings and entered the Jewish Kiryat Shmuel neighborhood, breaking into homes, murdering families and setting buildings on fire. Around 70 attackers took part. Only 15 Jewish guards were defending a neighborhood of roughly 2,000 residents. The approach facing the Sea of Galilee had been left unguarded because an attack from that direction was considered unlikely.

Rachel Mizrachi, 26, was murdered with her five children: Ezra, 12; Miriam, 5; Yochebed, 3; Samuel, 2; and Hephzibah, just one year old. Their father, Shimon, was on guard duty elsewhere in the city when his family was killed.

In another home, Joshua Ben-Arieh, his wife Shoshanah and their son Arieh were reported stabbed and burned to death. Their other son, Moshe, just a year and a half old, was shot dead. Three children from the Leimer family, aged 12, 10 and 8, were also reported stabbed and burned to death in that house.

The synagogue was set ablaze. Its elderly caretaker was stabbed to death, killed beside the Torah scroll. Two Jewish guards who came to help were ambushed and killed.

Alex Morrison, who arrived shortly after the massacre, described seeing the bodies of babies still burning. His account also described naked female bodies bearing evidence of horrific knife violence.

The British government's report to the League of Nations described the massacre as "systematically organized and savagely executed." It stated that 15 of the 19 Jewish victims had been stabbed to death.

The Haganah subsequently investigated the failures in the city's defenses. Later that month, Tiberias's Jewish mayor, Zaki Alhadif, was also assassinated.

Entire families were destroyed in their homes. Eleven children never grew up. This happened in 1938, a decade before the State of Israel was even established.

https://x.com/landpalestine/status/2086088655471366549

https://x.com/lalshareef/status/2080034835616399868?s=46&t=YRh59JXhCHDFoUYvch0TKA

Please keep in mind that this visualization contains 50,000 dots, while the most recent estimates exceed 52,000 protesters killed. As a result, this graphic is itself an undercount, and the true death toll is likely even higher.

https://serc.carleton.edu/details/images/32417.html

They were just in our subreddit to yeet out the old mod team and install me, so I should probably restrain the use of my big scary mod powers.

Especially since they could probably unban themselves and yeet me out too.

This is how the Government of India is treating peaceful Genz protestors. In India, the NEET Exam which was taken by 2.27 Million students (in 2026) was leaked 1st in 2024 and later now in 2026 but there was no accountability from our education minister's end. So ppl started protesting. As shown in the video, People are protesting near the parliament (ironically the temple of democracy), but Home ministry and Police are using brutal forces to remove us. Police and Rapid Action force are not even wearing any name tags, police were dressed up as civilians and created chaos at the 1st place to disrupt our protest. Police used baton charge with nails at the end of it. They even used pellet guns , and pointed guns towards the civilians. Even some videos are emerging in which Inspectors are threatening students that they will charge us with a fake drug case if we don't comply with them. Police used expired tear gas which contains potential chemicals that were used in WORLD WAR 1. All of this happened in the last 3 days only. Moreover the Chief Justice of India said that he " don't have time to look at our videos", collapsing the 3rd pillar of democracy and Media which is the 4th pillar of democracy is not covering anything of this protest. They just term us as anti-national because we raise our voice against injustice. Pls share this , the world should know what is happening in the Biggest democracy.

The term “Palestine” is itself a product of colonialism. Following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135 CE, the Roman Empire devastated Judea, massacred and expelled much of its Jewish population, and renamed the province Syria Palaestina in an effort to erase the Jewish connection to the land and extinguish Jewish national identity.

The very name was imposed by a foreign imperial power after one of history’s most devastating campaigns against the Jewish people. It was not an indigenous name for the land, but a colonial designation created by Rome. In that sense, “Palestine” represents the first symbolic act of colonial or genocidal erasure against the Jewish nation, preceding centuries of successive foreign occupations and conquests.

Another common misconception deserves to be addressed. Some attempt to justify the modern term by linking it to the Philistines. This argument fails historically. The Philistines were an Aegean people, not Arabs, and disappeared as a distinct civilization over two millennia ago. Modern Palestinians are not descendants of the Philistines, and invoking them does not establish an indigenous historical claim or continuity.

Recognizing the colonial and genocidal origins of the term “Palestine” is essential to understanding its historical context. Its adoption marked an imperial attempt to replace Judea with a colonial identity imposed by conquest—one whose legacy continues to shape political discourse today.