Solutions

Regional land swap (the Eiland plan)

Make the land bigger: Egypt gives Sinai land to enlarge Gaza, the Palestinians give Israel the settlement blocs in the West Bank, and Israel gives Egypt land in the Negev.

What happens to Israeli Jews

Israel keeps the main settlement blocs without taking Palestinian land in net terms, and gives up desert land in the Negev.

What happens to Palestinians

A larger, viable Gaza with room for a port, airport and new towns, in exchange for the West Bank settlement blocs. The rest follows the two-state model.

What it requires

  • Egypt ceding roughly 600–720 km² of northern Sinai next to Gaza (along the coast towards El Arish), more than doubling Gaza's size
  • The Palestinian state ceding roughly 11–12% of the West Bank, where most settlers live, to Israel
  • Israel giving Egypt a similar area in the Negev, plus a land link between Egypt and Jordan
  • All three states, and the Palestinians, agreeing — the plan works only as a package

Who supports it

Proposed by Giora Eiland, former head of Israel's National Security Council, in 'Regional Alternatives to the Two-State Solution' (Begin-Sadat Center, 2010) and earlier in 2004 ⚠. Egypt has rejected giving up Sinai land every time the idea has come up.

What history says

  • Border adjustments between states in peace deals (e.g. Jordan–Saudi Arabia 1965)
  • The Taba arbitration (1988): even a square kilometre of Sinai was fought over to the end
  • October 2023: the idea of moving Gazans to Sinai resurfaced as a wartime displacement concept, which is exactly what Egypt feared (see 'Palestinians leave')

The hard questions

  • Why would Egypt give up sovereign land, when it has fought for every square kilometre of Sinai since 1967?
  • How do you keep 'a bigger Gaza in Sinai' from becoming a way to push Gazans out of Palestine altogether?
  • Does trading West Bank land for desert land answer the Palestinians' attachment to their actual places?

Arguments that point here

“Israel does X. / Palestine is occupied.”actual argument?pro-Israel“The Arab world loves Palestine in words and abandons Palestinians in deeds.”hot potatocommon◆ The exception as proof◆ "What about you?"pro-Israel“Israel left Gaza in 2005 — there has been no occupation there since.”common◆ Motte and bailey◆ Proxy presented as outcomepro-Israel“Jordan is Palestine — the Palestinians already have their state.”common◆ Which territory?◆ Which Palestine?