Coordinated protests across major global cities, including Washington D.C., London, Paris, and Madrid, featured chants calling for a single state named 'Palestine' encompassing Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. While activists have long used terms like 'liberation,' recent interviews with movement leaders have explicitly articulated a goal where Israel ceases to exist as a separate Jewish nation-state, replaced by a democratic secular state with a Palestinian right of return.
The demonstrations, organized under banners such as the 'Global Day of Action' and 'Nakba 78' commemorations, marked a shift in rhetoric from demanding an end to occupation to rejecting the two-state solution entirely. Protesters in New York and London chanted 'Israel is a terrorist state' and 'There is only one state,' signaling a broader ideological movement that views the current Israeli state structure as illegitimate.
What the Left Is Saying
Progressive activists and leaders within the anti-Israel movement argue that the current status quo perpetuates 'settler colonialism' and 'apartheid,' necessitating a single state solution to ensure equal rights. Hatem Abudayyeh, founder of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, stated the goal is 'one democratic secular state of Palestine.' Miko Peled, founder of the Palestine House in Washington, D.C., affirmed that 'the proper name would be Palestine.'
Sam Husseini, a Maryland congressional candidate and Palestinian-American Christian, suggested that even Israeli Jews would eventually accept the name 'Palestine,' though he also referenced '1948'—the year of Israel's founding and the Palestinian Nakba—as a symbolic marker of the new state's origin. Olivia DiNucci, a coordinator for CodePink, responded to questions about the inclusion of modern-day Israel by stating, 'Palestinians in Palestine will decide,' before declining further comment on social media, characterizing the inquiries as 'gotcha questions.'
What the Right Is Saying
Conservative commentators and pro-Israel advocates view the explicit call for a single state named 'Palestine' as an erasure of Jewish self-determination and a rejection of Israel's legitimacy as a nation-state. They argue that the movement's rhetoric, including chants labeling Israel a 'terrorist state,' reflects a fundamental opposition to Jewish sovereignty rather than a desire for coexistence. Advocates note that critics rarely apply similar historical scrutiny to Arab and Muslim-majority states, many of which have displaced populations, including Jews, since their own formations.
Israeli leaders and their supporters fiercely reject allegations of 'genocide' and 'apartheid,' maintaining that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people with equal civil and political rights for all citizens, including Jews, Christians, and Muslims. From this perspective, the proposed one-state model is seen as a demographic strategy that would quickly overwhelm Jewish citizens, effectively ending the Jewish character of the state.
What the Numbers Show
Demographic data illustrates the scale of the proposed demographic shift. The current population of Israel is approximately 10 million, comprising about 7.8 million Jews, 2 million Palestinian Arabs, and 200,000 people from other communities. In contrast, there are an estimated 5.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and approximately 8 million Palestinians in the diaspora, totaling about 13.5 million Palestinians. Additionally, there are an estimated 10.2 million Jews worldwide.
If a single state were created encompassing Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza with a 'right of return' for diaspora Palestinians, the demographic balance would shift significantly. The movement's explicit rejection of the two-state solution, which has been the cornerstone of international diplomacy for decades, represents a departure from mainstream policy positions held by many Western governments, including the United States.
The Bottom Line
The explicit articulation of a one-state solution named 'Palestine' by movement leaders signals a hardening of positions on both sides of the conflict. For activists, this represents a long-overdue truth-telling about their ultimate goals beyond 'liberation' slogans. For Israel and its supporters, it confirms concerns that the movement seeks the dissolution of Israel as a Jewish state rather than a reformation of its policies. The rejection of the two-state framework by these protest groups complicates diplomatic efforts aimed at a negotiated settlement that recognizes two distinct national entities.