Currently, it’s one man, one vote, within Israel’s boundaries, for all of its citizens, regardless of confessional. And while Israel’s “Arab” citizens may have every reason to feel like they are treated as second class citizens, they also know they live better lives than any of their Arab brethren living under the PA, Lebanon, Egypt or Syria. Where Israel and the territories merged into a single state, the result would be introducing the same thuggery that exists in the West Bank and Gaza to Israel, where the only votes that count are those of the loyal backers of Fatah and Hamas, whichever emerges as the top dog, and the rest of the population, Jewish, Christian or Muslim, live under the same conditions the average Iraqi did under Saddam… …afraid to utter an opinion less they end up in a mass grave somewhere.

i’m naive enough to think that education, economic development and a two state solution will lead to long term peace and prosperity.

Do you really believe that this can occur without the imposition of mass violence against the Israeli Jewish population? Can you give an example of one nation in history which has achieved a state and then voluntarily surrendered sovereignty? And would you care to comment on the thoroughly depressing record of the Arab states when it comes to the treatment of minorities? Is Lebanon a model? Or Iraq? Because you might want to recall that Saddam Hussein only achieved “national unity” in Iraq by committing genocide against the Shi’a and Kurdish populations.

As to your question, are the Jews a nation or a religion?, again, I would ask you why you put it in either/or terms. Are the Armenians, for example, a nation or a religion? For that matter, what does it mean to be a Saudi, or a Jordanian?

I would argue that Jewish identity is based upon several foundations, of which the State of Israel is one. In a globalized world with unprecedented records of emigration, and which is therefore full of diasporas, identity is a complex thing. We should get away from the formula that to be a nation, the vast majority of a particular group have to be concentrated in a particular territory, speaking a particular language.

Finally, Arabs and Jews DO live together. The question is what political arrangements are necessary to maintain that fact. My position is that a secure State of Israel is an integral component of these arrangements. And given that Israel is the closest thing to a secular, democratic state in the region - or would you dispute that an Arab in Nazareth has far more rights than an Arab in Damascus? - it is much better equipped than any of its neighbors to guarantee minority rights. There are 100 million Muslims living in India; if they can live there without having to flee to Pakistan, why should the Arabs of Israel be regarded any differently?

So are you saying Arabs and Jews can not live together ?
But do they not already,after all Arabs make up more than 1/5 of the population of Israel.
Between the West Bank ,Gaza and Israeli there are for the first time as many Arabs/Palestinians as Jews I believe 5 million respectively.
The Arab birth rate is by far,much higher than the Jewish birthrate.What happens to the idea of a “Jewish state” when 1/2 the pop is Arab(a very real possibility)?
Seems to me the two people will have no choice in the matter.At some point they will have to learn to live with one another.So again the best solution remains a single secular state.
Indeed the continued fragmentation of the West Bank by Jewish settlers,makes a viable Palestinian state less and less possible.
Israeli actions & inactions are not only strengthening the argument for a one state solution, they are creating the conditions so that a one state solution will be the only practical option left.
Demographics and therefore time are on the side of the Palestinians.

Also most recent data shows the demographic trend in Israel ‘proper’ as you call it leave the status qou more or less unchanged.

As for a one state solution,I am inclined to agree it would resolve many difficulties.
After all what could be more democratic than one man one vote.Jews,Muslims and Palestinians would have to learn to live with one another.No one group could dominate.Perhaps that’s why you are opposed to a one state solution.The Zionist dream of a jewish state would be over.After all how can a state be a jewish state if half the pop was Palestinian.NO indeed,it would not be a jewish state but it would be a democracy.
Long term demographic trends point to the inevitable end of an Israel predominantly made up of Jews.
Countries can not be decreed,particularly when said country is erected on the land that was already occupied.The indigenous population “might” take issue with that idea.
But in the end we can argue till we are both blue in the face.
Demographics trends will eventually see a Palestinian majority inside Israel proper( as “its borders” are presently defined.
This is the main concern of Zionist,this is why Israel has different rules for Arab Israelis as opposed to Jewish Israeli’s.
What could be more ironic,some would even call it “poetic justice”.