In our concern for justice and peace, we must start by recognizing and proclaiming the truth even if it runs counter to what is commonly accepted as “conventional wisdom.” The Two-State Solution is dead, and peace cannot be based on military might or on the permanent subjugation and suffering of a weaker party. As Christians, we cannot remain neutral or silent in this situation. Because God’s children on both sides are suffering, we need to be agents of change for peace and justice. However, we also cannot continue to speak of a “conflict” or posit a false symmetry between oppressor and the oppressed, abuser and abused. The system of oppression, racism, and apartheid must be dismantled, because it dehumanizes both oppressor and oppressed alike. An alternative to the two-state solution is proposed.

About the Speaker: Jonathan Kuttab is Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA). In addition to being a co-founder of Sabeel, Jerusalem, Jonathan is a co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and co-founder of Nonviolence International. A well-known international human rights attorney, Jonathan practices in the US, Palestine, and Israel. He serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and is President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. Jonathan was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO. After graduating with his Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD) from Virginia Law School, and practicing a couple years on Wall Street, Jonathan returned home to Palestine. Jonathan was visiting scholar at Osgoode Law School at York University in Toronto in the Fall of 2017, and is a founding director of Just Peace Advocates Mouvement pour une Paix Juste, a Canadian based international law human rights not-for-profit organization. Jonathan is a resident of East Jerusalem, and is a partner of Kuttab, Khoury, and Hanna Law Firm in East Jerusalem. He is the author of Beyond the Two-State Solution, suggesting that any solution be predicated on the basic existential needs of the two parties. (biography courtesy of FOSNA)