Opinion | A Radical Vision for Israelis and Palestinians

So in a way, I was taking my children’s lives into my own hands. I said okay, that’s not good enough. We must reimagine a two-state solution that will work, or a new vision that can be truly pragmatic and practical, while also organizing and exciting Palestinians and Israelis.

I will say one more thing about this kind of transformation: Coming from a human rights background, I wanted to become a human rights lawyer to end the occupation. And today I realize that sounds a bit naive. I still think that the Israelis who do this work are saints, and this is the most important work that needs to be done.

But at the same time, we do not see Palestinians as political equals. Maybe we can save them, control them; There is always an underlying dynamic, that power dynamic. And for me, the positionality of realizing in my gut that until Rula and the Palestinian people are safe and free, we will never be free, free and safe. Our security depends on each other.

Rula, I know that you were previously a supporter of the one-state solution. Tell me how you came to this idea and how your thinking evolved.

– Mustard: The reason I came to this idea was because I began to realize two things: First of all, we already have a one-state reality between Jordan and the sea, or a one-state structure on land, but under one regime and one power, that is, in the hands of Israel. And Palestinians live under daily domination, occupation, military control and apartheid and, needless to say, ethnic cleansing, genocide and annexation of a tiny, tiny portion of their land in the last two and a half years. I mean the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.