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Israel-Gaza war: only a two-state solution can bring real peace, China president says in first public speech on conflict

Um, I am not sure how I feel about this. Why would Xi support a two-state solution? Isn't it more justified to have a one-state solution and return all of the land to the Palestinians? Won't a two-state solution eventually lead us back to another genocide? This feels off. I did not expect Xi to make such a statement.

103 comments
  • I know why he's doing it, but it doesn't make the play-acted middle-of-the-road centrism any less infuriating because for fuck's sake he sounds just like the settlers saying shit like this. If the unthinkable happened and we finally got a war against our oppressors in the West, and somebody started talking about 'two-state solution', my blood would boil! The crackerverse would holler otherwise, but the crackerverse would holler anyway. They're stuck pigs, it's all they know how to do.

    • The crackerverse would holler otherwise, but the crackerverse would holler anyway.

      This is also true in Israel. Due to the current state of the West Bank, a two-state solution would essentially require partition all over again, an opening of a new instance of the same kind of wound as 1948 constituted.

      When the Israeli Jewish settlements were removed from Gaza, there was a huge uproar inside Israel. If the Israeli government did that in the West Bank today, it'd be a huge reversal and they'd have to contend with a very vocal, very armed, right-wing religious extremist faction going absolutely nuts over it.

      Alternatively, if the Israeli government proposed to do land swaps instead (which they'd probably want to do since the West Bank is of special religious and historical significance to Jews, much more so than most of the territory the state of Israel now claims for itself), that could mean further mass displacement for Palestinians living in the West Bank, plus the same kind of domestic problem for the Israeli government in whatever territory they would give over to the Palestinians in exchange.

      There's no way to do a two-state solution that doesn't require mass displacement by force, possibly for both sides. I don't understand how that inflames things any less than decolonializatlon/reconstruction/reparations to transition to a single multinational state or a confederation with free movement across the whole territory or something like that.

      Israeli Jews certainly cry out loudly today if anyone talks about a one state solution, but there would also be a massive outcry from them if steps were taken to actually realize a two-state solution, too.

      (If, when they have a hand strong enough to actually meaningfully negotiate with Israel and hold them to account, Palestinians (including the Palestinian diaspora), should choose a 'two-state solution', you won't find me opposing that. But I really struggle to see how that's possible given current realities on the ground.)

  • I did not expect Xi to make such a statement.

    Well... I don't know what you expect of the Chinese leadership, but their foreign policy is very pragmatic, and sometimes, like in these cases, very conservative and not progressive at all. They want to avoid conflicts at all costs, even if it means sacrificing a more revolutionary, socialist stance on international issues.

    And although we may disagree with the position of the Chinese leadership on this issue, a socialist country in our time has no other option except having a relationship with dozens of capitalist countries all over the world. To have a more firm political stance on an international issue could send a bad message for the majority of capitalist countries which want to continue pursuing their short-sighted interests which causes political issues (aka the vast majority of capitalist countries).

    If China interferes politically and diplomatically on an international issue, capitalist countries could wonder if they would get the same treatment under their own political issues, thus hurting international business, which is the blood of the Chinese economy.

    • I’m still learning, and I believe new people that come here will likely ask similar repeated questions. We’re all at different stages. I appreciate everyone’s perspective from this post, and I believe we have had some really good discussions and points that has already helped me grow.

      https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/3084754

      I made this post so I could get some feedback and a better understanding of the situation. A lot of people here gave some very thoughtful input.

      Before I made this post, I suspected the Xi's response was pragmatic, but I wasn't quite sure how and if it was a good decision.

      Learning Marxist-Leninism is quite the rabbit hole, and there's so much I am trying to wrap my head around. Please forgive me if I make poor assumptions or expectations; I am only wanting to learn and get input from others here.

      I believe most people here have made valid points, even those that are contradictory to others. My hope is for the most pragmatic solution for the Palestinian people that leads to the least deaths and the most justice, but there's also the major issue of bloodthirsty Zionists regardless if a one or two state solution is achieved (from my understanding of everyone's feedback), and there's many factors that would need to be considered to make either solution actually succeed long term. The need for the US to stop funding Israel is a major one, for example.

      I also understand that China being a socialist country in a capitalist dominated world means they have to be careful for their own survival as well as the survival of other countries they are trying to help, which I respect.

      • Please forgive me if I make poor assumptions or expectations; I am only wanting to learn and get input from others here.

        Don't worry about it, there's no fault, we're not obliged to know everything. Not knowing is the natural human state as soon as we're born, and we'll carry this ignorance on virtually everything until the end of our lives. By definition, our ignorance is limitless, because we can't know everything...

        Anyways, I appreciate questions like these too, they are very important indeed so newcomers, lurkers and those interested in Marxism-Leninism can get to know a bit about our thinking on these subjects. Plus, it's an exercise for Marxist-Leninists too, so we can articulate our thoughts. So yeah, great post, and you articulated your questions in a very polite manner, there's no complaint to be made.

  • The 1 state solution where everyone coexist in peace is not possible in the current material conditions.

    A transitional 2 state solution is needed imho, not the solution proposed by the US where Palestine is an open air prison but one where they can have sovereignty over borders and such.

    Only then and after demilitarization on Israel can a 1 state solution be materially possible.

    • It also depends on what "two state solution" actually means. Traditionally, Israel has made such solutions impossible. The "you go your way, we'll go ours" has been off the table because Israel doesn't want that, they want the entire land and the expulsion of Palestine entirely.

      A two-state solution, where there's a kind of federation between them might actually work. The federation would have to abide by international committees and violations by either state would be subject to some kind of punishment (be it trade deals or even military action in severe cases).

      The first problem, though, is the weapons supply and military training from the West. If that were cut off, it would take maybe a year of bloody gorilla fighting, but the playing field would be relatively equal at that point and then it'd be anybody's guess who'd win out. Getting the USA to slowly wean away support would mean negotiating partially on their terms.

      In other words, Xi could just be giving the USA a peaceful "out" here, if they take it. The USA can save face and support a ramp down of the situation instead of escalation. I don't see that happening near-term, but lots can change in the next few years and this play by China might just be the thing that allows a better situation to happen here.

  • China's position is understandable and unsurprising, yet still disappointing. In regards to their foreign policy, they are still very far away of being able to fill the shoes of the Soviet Union.

    • One of the Soviet Union's problems was over extension though. They put a lot of energy into external affairs at the expense of internal ones, with mixed results. On the one hand we got Cuba, and on the other we have raging fascism in Ukraine and Poland, and the soviet union was killed and gifted by capitalists. China has not achieved the same things abroad, but has done well for its citizens so far.

      • I think no one expects China to arm the 2n International Brigades nor to have a hand in supporting every single communist party on Earth. But from the overextension that the USSR suffered (which I will remind you that at the time of its dissolution included a full on, 10 year-long war in Afghanistan) to the absolute neutrality that China displays there is a long way, with both of them staying at opposite extremes of the same axis.

        We have to ask ourselves if it would be so extremely disastrous for China to simply condemn the act of imperialism and colonialism that is the existance of the state of Israel as it is today, and leave it there. It's not like this statement will appease anyone, with Biden already calling Xi a dictator nonchalantly and with the same aggressive US military maneuvers as always still going on periodically in Taiwan. It wouldn't even be that outlandish to simply retreat recognition of Israel as a state, which they wouldn't be the first to do.

        China's pursue of neutrality and refusal to interact with the broader worldwide communist and/or anti-imperialist movement is exhausting. I'm not even talking about active statements of external policy even: the USSR's "Progress Publishers" used to take every text on Marxism-Leninism they could get their hands on and export them translated to 50 languages, while in order to get a copy of "The Governance of China" in one of the few languages it exists in you could see people in back in r/GenZedong having to write a letter to their local Chinese embassy written in unicorn blood hoping that they would agree to hand them a copy of, at most, one of the three existing volumes.

    • The USSR from the early 70s until its collapse basicaly held a pro-palestine 2 state solution position. WHat makes you think even if they survived they would have had a noticably better position than China's

      • This is what makes me think so.

        Perhaps the USSR wouldn't have a noticeably better position than China nowadays. Perhaps the USSR would be a nordic-like social democracy too, since it's been 30 years since it fell and at this time we can imagine anything if we engage in the waste of time that is alt-history.

        But if you focus away from the Israel-Palestine conflict there is one thing that is true no matter how you look at it: by searching the "middle ground" in every single conflict in its pursue to maintain pragmatism and avoid the overextension that the USSR suffered, Chinese external policy has almost reached the point of toothlessness, and it's getting pretty exhausting when the situation that is going on right now is a genocide and the IMCWP is already calling together for the cease of the occupation of Palestine. And while we don't know what the USSR would have done (and it is useless to ponder about it), the truth is that Soviet external policy in general, despite its excesses and flaws, has to this day done more for communism and for the workers of the world than China ever aims to.

  • Damn near every communist party had held the UN '67 line for the purpose of holding an international legal standard that darn near the entire world agrees to.

    It doesn't solve the inherent contradiction of zionist colonization, nor halts the fascist zionist state from continuing its acts of genocidal aggression, but it gives breathing space for the Palestinian people to actually rebuild their homeland and regain a more equal footing to the fascists at their border.

    • I believe a two state solution can be a good "non-reformist reform" that puts Palestine in, hopefully, a better position. But only if everyone wants to continue going further. If a Palestinian state is recognized, how long will it be before this state is labeled a failed state and reoccupied with little to no pushback from the international community?

      For a two state solution to be viable, there must be reperations for the Palestinian state to build its capacity and there must be a reckoning among the occupiers. Given the conditions the world is in, how likley is it that both of these things will play out in a healthy, coordinated way? Probably not likley at all. Most just want the reform for political reasons and will just stop there until the genocide gets bad enough to start finger wagging again, which is all they will be able to do because they already "tried everything."

  • In the 'international community' (i.e., among certain world leaders), this still seems to be the consensus. The idea is motivated not so much by a thought of what is most just, but what is (supposedly) most possible to get both parties to agree to. And China is here trying simply to echo that consensus.

    I think at this point, though, it's hard not to see that this 'consensus' is a zombie, and the territorial and political viability of such a solution is visibly, obviously dead. That does make renewed endorsements of a 'two-state solution’ untimely and even uncanny things to see, imo.

    I agree that a single state covering the whole of mandatory Palestine seems more just. Palestinians deserve the right of return, full freedom of movement, and all national and civic rights, across the entire territory. I don't see how a multi-state solution facilitates that.

    I also don't really know how to 'help' as an outsider, with a two-state solution. For a one-state solution, we have a model in the original anti-apartheid movement and an existing international movement in BDS. What would helping Palestinians 'win' a partitioned state even look like at this point?

  • This is identical to the Soviet position. It is meant to be as inoffensive, pragmatic, and status-quo supporting as possible as to not cause conflict.

    Palestine is not a national interest of China, and it’s leadership could care less about it, so why would they risk aggravating the situation for little to no gain?

    • Why are you assuming that the CPC leadership doesn't care about Palestine? If they were to suddenly demand the dismantling of "Israel", the risk of a third world war would likely increase significantly

      • Because China has laid their foreign policy positions bare and have stood by them for over a decade at this point. A core tenant of that policy is a primary focus on local security, and a strong non-interference policy.

        Further, directly supporting Palestine offers no real benefit to China and its policy goals, and it would be needlessly poking a hornets nest for little to nothing in return.

  • A one-state solution for Palestine will still result in conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, the current Israeli colonialism in Palestine will just turn into Israeli separatism from a single Palestinian state.

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