An Israeli/Palestinian Federation: An Alternative Approach to Peace

In this episode, we examine a report entitled An Israeli/Palestinian Federation: An Alternative Approach to Peace This report challenges the viability of the two-state solution for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposes a federal approach as a new path forward. You can find a link to the report in the episode description. In this episode we'll discuss the resistance to this idea and uncover the primary barriers to its acceptance among both Israelis and Palestinians. Our conversation will also address how this federation could tackle the contentious issues of Israeli settlements and the right of return for Palestinian refugees, aiming for solutions that are acceptable to both sides. Furthermore, we'll explore the crucial role of the international community in facilitating this transition. Our guests for this episode are the authors of this report, Riccardo Bocco and Nigel Roberts. Riccardo Bocco is emeritus professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the Geneva Graduate Institute. His main geographical area of fieldwork for the last 35 years has been the Near East with a particular focus on Jordan, Israel/Palestine and Lebanon. He has successively worked on issues of development policies and State-building; on humanitarian aid and refugees; and monitoring the impact of international aid on civilian populations. Nigel Roberts spent 14 years working on the Olso peace process for the World Bank, the last five as World Bank Country Director in Jerusalem. He was the co-director of the 2011 World Development Report on Conflict, Security and Development, and from 2015-18 was the Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board for the UN Peace Building Fund. From April to December 2020, he was a senior adviser to the US Congress-mandated Afghanistan Peace Process Study Group. He is a senior research associate at the Overseas Development Institute, London. One of the key reasons Riccardo and Nigel collaborated is their complementary expertise. Nigel, a political economist, and Riccardo, a political sociologist, brought together unique perspectives that were essential for achieving their final product. You can download the report here: https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/sites/internet/files/2024-12/Report_Palestine-Israel_161224_Final.pdf *Please note that this episode was recorded remotely over mobile phones, so you may notice some variations in audio quality. We appreciate your understanding and hope you enjoy the discussion.