Israel-Palestine and the Future of the Nation-State | Omar Dajani

The century-long struggle over Israel-Palestine both exemplifies the abiding problem with the nation-state and helps to explain its continuing allure. As a framework for self-determination, the nation-state sets up a zero-sum game, awarding winners control over the state and consigning losers, at best, to minority rights—or, at worst, to disenfranchisement, ethnic cleansing, and even genocide. But is there an alternative? In this presentation, I will explore one attempt to reimagine the future of the nation-state in Israel-Palestine. A Land for All, a rapidly growing binational popular movement, does not advocate total repudiation of the nation-state, embracing a two-state solution as a means of achieving national self-determination for Palestinians and Israeli Jews. But it does propose a different relationship between nation, state and territory, recognizing Israel-Palestine as the “shared homeland” for both peoples and calling for freedom of movement and residence across it for all citizens of both states.

Omar Dajani is the Carol Olson Professor of International Law at the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. His scholarship, which explores how legal norms operate in the context of international conflict resolution processes and political transitions, focuses on Israel-Palestine. His recent publications include Federalism and Decentralization in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2023) (co-edited, with Aslı Bâli). Previously, he served as legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team in peace talks with Israel, participating in the summits at Camp David and Taba, and as political adviser in the office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) in Jerusalem. He has since consulted on a variety of legal development and conflict resolution projects in the Middle East and elsewhere – for institutions including the U.S. Department of State, the Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center, the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, and the European Council on Foreign Relations. He currently serves as co-chair of the joint board of A Land for All, a binational movement for equality and mutual self-determination in Israel-Palestine. A graduate of Northwestern University and Yale Law School, Dajani clerked for Judge Dorothy Nelson on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.