ASG's counter-hegemony unit

In his recent interview with Julian Assange, Nasrallah alluded to a one state solution for Palestine: “the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is establishing a democratic state on Palestinian land where Muslims, Jews and Christians live in peace”. While the details of such a solution remain obscure, one can find further clues to Hizbullah’s position on the issue in Khamenei’s removal-by-referendum proposal. While his views are not identical with Hizbullah’s, the legal rulings of the Faqih are politically binding on the movement in his capacity as its source of imitation (marja’ al-taqlid).

The most direct evidence of Khamenei’s, and by extension Iran’s, one-state solution proposal, is found in a November 2005 speech by the Supreme Leader, where he presents the following argument: “We hold a fair and logical stand on the issue of Palestine. Several decades ago, Egyptian statesman Gamal Abdel Naser….stated in his slogans that Egyptians would throw Jewish usurpers of Palestine into the sea. Some years later, Saddam Hussein…said he would put half of the Palestinian land on fire. But we approve of neither of these two remarks. We believe according to our Islamic principles, that neither throwing the Jews into the sea nor putting the Palestinian land on fire is logical and reasonable.” 

   Khamenei, as well as other Iranian officials including Ahmadinejad who endorsed it, was to eradicate the Zionist regime by diplomatic means—a removal by referendum. Khamenei’s proposal was to hold a referendum among “all native Palestinians, including Muslims, Jews and Christians” to decide on the type of government they want. The term “native” makes it clear that Israeli Jews would be excluded from the referendum, as does Khamenei’s proposal that the government would “decide about the fate of those who have immigrated to Palestine from various parts of the world”Though the parties to this social contract would consist of the original inhabitants of historic Palestine and the Palestinian Diaspora, Iran would consider any government that they choose “acceptable”, be it a “Muslim, Christian or Jewish government or a coalition government.”