In an interview on Israel

Tell me about Palestine Betrayed.

Efraim Karsh is a professor here at King’s College London and the book shows the missed opportunities that the Palestinians had, both in 1947 and afterwards. In 1947 the UN decided to partition Palestine, which up until then was in the British mandatory system, into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Arabs boycotted even the deliberations of the UN and were against it, hoping, as everyone else thought they would, to overcome the fledgling Jewish state. But it didn’t happen, and since then they’ve had other opportunities of getting their own Palestinian Arab state which they have missed, whether on purpose or not is debatable. This book talks about the historical aspects of the present conflict and Karsh believes Palestine was betrayed by those who refused compromise. It’s an important book and a singular book because most books on this subject attack Israel. He tries to establish the responsibility of the Arabs for the failure of the partition of Palestine. 

I’ve spoken to lots of people in these FiveBooks interviews about a one-state solution for Israel. What would Karsh think of that?

The one-state solution would be the end of Israel as a Jewish state, the end of the Israeli democracy, and it would mean probably that most Jews, if not all Jews, would leave historical Palestine and seek to find refuge in the democratic western world, wherever they would be welcome. Because one state would mean a Muslim majority and a Muslim majority would mean the end of a western democracy as we know it. 

So you see the two-state solution as the only option?

The only option, yes. An option which both the UN and the world community have opted for on different occasions.