Year XXXVIII, Number 3, November 2025

Yehuda A. Schwartz  
Founder of the Holy Land Union.

Introduction
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict presents us with a challenging problem: how can peace and prosperity be secured when two modern nationalist movements claim the same homeland? Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are really willing to divide their homeland into two states or dissolve their distinct identities into a single unified state. Yet, if we study its origins, we will understand why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is of a unique kind, and we will be able to find inspiration for a unique solution. This conflict is not about the shifting of borders. It is more profound: it is the struggle of one people returning from exile and meeting a new people born of the land: a conflict of identities. This paper advocates a federal solution to this conundrum, partly inspired by the history of these two peoples, and partly by the modern phenomenon of the European Union.

History Inspiring a Solution: From Biblical Tribes to Allied Nations
The federal idea is not new. The biblical federation of the Twelve Tribes of Israel was the first recorded federal polity of Antiquity. The federalist Daniel Elazar wrote: “The federal principle first emerges in the biblical covenant.” Biblical Israel was bound by covenant (berit), consent and shared law, under direct divine sovereignty. Here lies the theological-political root of federalism in the Abrahamic tradition: belief in a Sovereign of the World (Hebrew Ribonô shel Olam - Arabic Rabb al-Alamn) as revealed in the desert, showing that Covenant and Law can create a civil nation of nomads without homeland or autochthony. Islam grounded a similar world view in the Ummah, a community beyond borders, linked by divine sovereignty and shari( a. It appeared with the first Islamic state in Medina, a federation of Arab and Jewish tribes, allied by the famous Constitution of Medina. It later took pluralist forms, such as the successive caliphates and the Ottoman millet system, a model which the thriving federation of the United Arab Emirates has now inherited. And how do they call their recent alliance with Israel? The Abraham Accords! Indeed, Abraham’s relation to the Land is the model: Abraham was not born in the land of Canaan, but in Ur of the Chaldees. His progeny, the Children of Israel and Ishmael, like their father, are not indigenous natives. Their common Abrahamic identity, shaped by the Bible and the Quran, says the very opposite: they are in fact all immigrants – strangers and temporary guests on this Earth, which belongs only to its Creator. Freedom in relation to the land is typical of Abraham the nomad, the immigrant. When relations with his nephew Lot became conflicted, Abraham offered him to share the land between them, and even to choose first the part he preferred (Genesis 13:9). Abraham’s relationship with territory was non-possessive and non- exclusive. Here we find a key to the solution: if instead of sticking to their modern and imported  nationalism, Palestinians and 

Israelis will revert to their original identity as Children of Abraham, they can revive together the covenantal partnership with the land of Abraham the nomad. If we take the religious concept of ownership of the land by the Sovereign of the World and translate it into secular ownership by the Supranational Sovereign, we translate covenant into federation, and have a solution!

Present-Day Reality Inspiring a Solution: The European Union
The European Union offers a very helpful modern comparison, because it comprises many nations collectively embraced within a single supranational umbrella, partly confederal, partly federal. However, the Israeli- Palestinian conflict differs from Europe’s past. After centuries of war, European states successfully stabilised borders. In contrast, Israel and Palestine have never succeeded to establish borders between themselves. They are so geographically interwoven that a two-state solution no longer appears feasible. Their only way to enjoy national autonomy  and  self-determination  will be through non-territorial institutions at the state level. A peaceful Israel-Palestine cannot accommodate multiple sovereignties and armies. It must instead embrace one sovereignty standing above the two nations, reflecting the Supranational Sovereign of their Abrahamic traditions. The EU too, in order to complete its evolution, also needs to find a path to supranational sovereignty, to fully implement Altiero Spinelli’s federalist vision in his Ventotene Manifesto. This model may in due course inform future European and global federalism.

The Model: One Land, Two Nations, One Federation
Our vision is of two non-territorial nation- states – Israel and Palestine – within a single federal state covering the land between “the River and the Sea”. At its core is the supremacy of federal law – no one is above the law, not even the nation-states themselves. Yet federal competences remain limited to matters truly common to all: foreign policy, defense, major infrastructure, human rights, resource distribution, and the environment.

Federal State Institutions
1.    A jointly elected parliament and government with Jewish–Palestinian parity.
2.    Rotating leadership (President, Prime Minister, Ministers).
3.    Jerusalem as the federal capital district. Non-territorial nation-states Institutions
4.    Two national parliaments and governments – Jewish and Palestinian – governing personal status, cultural, and religious affairs regardless of residence.
5.    Territorial administration: three district types – Jewish, Palestinian, and Shared (jointly administered). Local veto rights allow the preservation of demographic balances instead of rigid national borders.
6.    Land privately or municipally owned, never nationally. Citizenship and Rights
7.    Dual citizenship (federal + national) for all inhabitants – federal ensures equality, while national preserves collective identity.
8.    Mixed families free to choose national affiliation.
9.    Civil service mandatory; military service voluntary for Palestinians during transition. This design transcends both the traditional two-state solution and the one-state model. It respects national identities while eliminating the exclusivity of territorial sovereignty.

A Model for Europe – and Beyond
If such a federation can work in the world’s most symbolically charged land, it could inspire Europe to take its next step: turning into a sovereign “Federation of NationsStates”.The challenge is not only legal or institutional, but civilizational. Territorial nationalism, born of the Enlightenment, has failed to include peoples such as Jews, Kurds, Armenians, or Palestinians. Even after two world wars, it continues to fuel deadly conflicts, such as in Ukraine. Ultimately, a supranational covenant offers a different path. Just as Israel–Palestine could be bound by federal law above nations, Europe might evolve into a federation beyond national sovereignty. In time, this model could even lead to a global World Federation.

Conclusion
An Israeli–Palestinian federation may sound utopian, but its roots are ancient, its rationale coherent, and its potential enormous. If it succeeds, it might also inspire Europe to embrace supranational sovereignty - not against its nations, but for them. It could open a path to a federal family of nations.