The Foreign Service Journal, May 2023

12 MAY 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL in Bogotá about what I was planning to do. They thought it was foolhardy, but did not order me not to send the mes- sage. I had explained that I was in total agreement that no U.S. official should ever express public disagreement with U.S. policies, but that this Limited Official Use document was within formal official channels. I sent off my message and proceeded with my family to Washington, D.C., for Finnish language training. Sometime after my arrival in Wash- ington, I was contacted by the Open Forum. They asked me if I would be willing to present my paper in an Open Forum discussion that included the highest officials of the regional bureau (now the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs) for an open give and take. The event was arranged and resulted in a lively discussion. Issue was taken with some of my points, particularly my rather naive view of Cuba. The State Department’s willingness back in 1975 to permit—even to suggest— an open forum discussion on a highly controversial presentation critical of U.S. policy was refreshing and healthy. Probably no policy changes can be traced to that event. And, in any case, looking at the overall situation in Latin America today, nobody on either side of that discussion can get much satisfaction from how events have evolved. But we did have a great and open discussion where everyone could put forward their views. I remain grateful to the department for that marvelous experi- ence and am delighted to learn the State Department has decided to re-initiate the Secretary’s Open Forum. James Ford Cooper Senior FSO, retired Columbia, S.C. Share your thoughts about this month’s issue. Submit letters to the editor: journal@afsa.org estinians full civil rights. “Anyone who says otherwise is in denial of reality,” he concluded. Would such a state be viable? Judging that Israel with a 20 percent Palestinian Arab minority has been a functioning democracy for nearly 75 years, the answer is “yes indeed.” Moreover, one could make the case that Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews, especially Mizrahi, have much more in common than Walloons and Flemish in Belgium or Macedonian Slavs and Albanians in North Macedonia. In fact, Belgium could serve as a model for a possible Israel-Palestine confederation should the majority of Israeli Jews continue to oppose a binational one-state solution. The contours of a final settlement to this quandary, now more than 100 years old, should be decided by the Israelis and Palestinians themselves. Rightfully so. However, it is time for us to consider alternatives to the two-state solution as U.S. policy. George W. Aldridge FSO, retired Arlington, Texas n Israel-Palestine: A One-State Solution or Confederation? Following the late December 2022 formation of Israel’s new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, both President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated U.S. support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conundrum. Our position in favor of two democratic states living side by side more or less along the 1967 border mirrors the European Union’s position and the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. But after decades of Israeli settlement expansion into the West Bank, is the two- state solution even remotely feasible? Some 30 years ago, the former deputy mayor of Jerusalem and political scien- tist Dr. Meron Benvenisti predicted that Israeli settlement policy would soon result in a binational Arab-Jewish state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. To avoid devolving into an apartheid polity, Israel would have to accord Palestinian Arabs under Israeli occupation equal political and civil rights commensurate with Israeli Arabs. A growing portion (from 33 to 40 percent depending on the survey) of Palestinians now favor a binational state. Most Israeli Jews oppose it. However, one of Israel’s most vocal settlement leaders, David Elhayani, recently said: “Whether we like it or not, the two-state solution is dead.” Elhayani went on to admit that Israel cannot annex the West Bank and Jordan River Valley without granting the Pal-