Iran’s Plan To Solve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Through a Vote

With the Middle East still on edge over a suspected Israeli attack against Iran’s embassy in Syria, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian took the opportunity on the eve of a day marking regionwide support for Palestinians to present Tehran’s plan for a democratic solution to the decades-long conflict.

A statement was published by the Iranian Foreign Ministry and shared with Newsweek on Thursday, a day before World Quds Day, a reference to the Arabic-language name for Jerusalem.

World Quds Day, or International Quds Day, has been observed by Iran on the third Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan since the foundation of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

The occasion was devised in direct opposition to Israel’s “Jerusalem Day,” established to celebrate the country’s victory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and control over the entirety of the sacred city that is still today at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the statement, Amir-Abdollahian said the first such occasion to be held since the war in the Gaza Strip began “provides an opportunity for thinking [of] a viable, responsible and real solution” to the conflict and its underlying causes.

“Emphasizing the natural and inherent right of the Palestinian nation to legitimately resist oppression and occupation,” the minister said, “the Islamic Republic of Iran has responsibly presented a democratic initiative for the Palestinian issue which has been registered in the United Nations.

“Iran believes that the oldest and most painful crisis of the present century in the region and the world can be resolved through a referendum, with the help of the United Nations among the original inhabitants of Palestine, including Christians, Muslims and Jews,” he added.

Amir-Abdollahian also defended the decision by the Palestinian Hamas movement to launch an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, arguing that “the real root of the crisis lies in the 75-year occupation of the Palestinian territory by a fake and rootless regime, as well as the violation of the fundamental, lawful and natural rights of a noble nation.

“As long as the main root of the crisis is not given serious attention and responsible action is not taken to treat it, lasting peace and security will not be formed in the region and the world,” he said.

Over the decades, a number of groups allied with the Iran-aligned coalition known as the “Axis of Resistance” have also held events in support of World Quds Day, sometimes using the occasion to showcase new weapons and capabilities.

And while the longstanding rivalry between Iran and Israel has been characterized by a shadowy conflict playing out across the region, including in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and also at sea, Tehran has also sought to promote its referendum plan as a democratic alternative to violence.

Opposing Proposals

The idea of putting a one-state solution to a vote has been discussed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since at least early 2020.

The concept came as a rival framework to the so-called “Deal of the Century” proposal released by then U.S. President Donald Trump, eagerly endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and widely rejected throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds.

The draft agreement was viewed as heavily favoring Israel through land swaps that would further erode Palestinian control over the West Bank, which would be connected to Gaza and new desert settlements by tunnel.

Demography has been among the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some 15 million people reside across Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, about half of whom are Jews and the other Israeli-Arabs and Palestinians, making any vote a complex affair for either side.

In his statement Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian accused Israel of purposely targeting civilians in Gaza, starving them and obstructing the flow of humanitarian aid as part of a broader plan of “forcibly displacing them to Sinai and Jordan.”

These tactics, he argued, “have set the alarm bells ringing for the occurrence of the most unprecedented human catastrophe of the present century.”

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has regularly rejected such accusations and has accused Hamas of committing atrocities, including during the initial October 7 attacks, allegations also denied by the group.

Neither the Iranian nor the U.S. plan has been advanced by the U.N. Israeli-Palestinian violence has reached historic levels in recent years, even prior to the Hamas-led attack launched nearly six months ago, and both sides have accused one another of perpetuating the vicious cycle.

Last week, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told Newsweek that “the connection between [Lebanese militant group] Hezbollah, the Houthis [in Yemen], the militias in Iraq, Syria, some militias in Syria and not just militias in Syria: all controlled by Iran.”

“Iran in a very sophisticated way has occupied Lebanon, using those countries to wage war against Israel,” he added at the time. “But not just against Israel, it’s against Sunni countries and also against innocent civilians of the Western world.”

In response, the Iranian Mission to the U.N. told Newsweek that “the military actions undertaken by the resistance front against the Israeli regime are defensive measures aimed at exerting pressure on the occupying regime, with the goal of halting its crimes in Gaza.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran staunchly supports such resistance,” the mission said last week. “However, given the Israeli regime’s inability to effectively counter the resistance, it seeks to portray Iran as the occupying force in the countries comprising the resistance front.”

Tensions Ramp Up Between Regional Powers

Since then, Iran-Israel tensions have soared dramatically in the wake of the airstrike attributed to Israel against the Iranian embassy in Damascus, killing several officials, including at least two top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders.

While the IDF has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement, declining Newsweek‘s request for comment, it put out a statement early Thursday that appeared to signal it was bracing for Iranian retaliation.

“In accordance with the situational assessment, it has been decided that leave will be temporarily paused for all IDF combat units,” the Israeli military statement said. “The IDF is at war and the deployment of forces is under continuous assessment according to requirements.”

Iranian officials, including Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi, have openly vowed to strike back.

While Amir-Abdollahian urged members of the U.N. and other international institutions, such as the Islamic Cooperation Organization, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, to “take effective preventive and punitive actions” against Israel, he also separately announced a day earlier that he had sent “an important message” to the U.S. regarding its support for Israel in wake of the attack in Syria.

In response, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller declined reporters’ questions on how the message was received, but reiterated Washington’s claims it had no involvement in the strike.

“The Iranians can speak for theirselves,” Miller said Tuesday. “I will just say that we made very clear to the Iranians that we had no involvement in this strike, we didn’t know about it at the time, and we warned them not to use this attack as a pretext to attack U.S. facilities or personnel.”

But Amir-Abdollahian doubled down on his criticism of the U.S. alliance with Israel in his remarks on Wednesday.

“It is a great regret that despite the passage of about six months from the brutal attacks of the usurper Zionist regime in Gaza, we are witnessing persistent inaction by the international community and particularly by the United Nations and its Security Council, whose main responsibility is to ensure international peace and security,” Amir-Abdollahian said in the World Quds Day statement.

“The United States is evidently one main side to blame for the continuation of war and obstruction of efforts to cease it,” he added.