--- title: What if Palestinians Became Israeli Citizens? description: This article originally appeared on Patheos. Dear Rabbi, Do you think there is any hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians? “Any hope” is setting... canonical: https://time.com/3083271/what-if-palestinians-became-israeli-citizens/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-06T15:36:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:43:07.092Z article:section: Ideas og:title: What if Palestinians Became Israeli Citizens? og:description: "I doubt peace will come the way our pundits and politicians imagine it" og:url: https://time.com/3083271/what-if-palestinians-became-israeli-citizens/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What if Palestinians Became Israeli Citizens? twitter:description: "I doubt peace will come the way our pundits and politicians imagine it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # What if Palestinians Became Israeli Citizens? > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=26b3c5eb-f429-4de5-b913-6d55f89bf008&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Patheos](https://time.com/author/patheos/) ## Patheos Contributor Aug 6, 2014 3:36 PM UTC by [Patheos](https://time.com/author/patheos/) ## Patheos Contributor Aug 6, 2014 3:36 PM UTC  _This article_ [_originally appeared_](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rabbiramishapiro/2014/08/hope-for-peace/) _on_ [_Patheos_](patheos.com)_._ **Dear Rabbi, Do you think there is any hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians?** “Any hope” is setting the bar quite low; we can all entertain some sliver of hope, so the answer to your question “is there ANY hope for peace” is “yes.” But I doubt peace will come the way our pundits and politicians imagine it. They still talk about a two-state solution as if this is possible, but I have little hope that it is. Israelis and Palestinians are trapped in a lose-lose scenario, and only some bold new initiative can change the status quo. Given the nature of Israeli politics, I’m not sure what that would be on the Israeli side. On the Palestinian side, however, the initiative would be Israeli citizenship. If I were advising the Palestinians I would suggest they drop all efforts to secure a state alongside Israel, and demand full Israeli citizenship instead. I would suggest a media campaign with slogans like “Let My People In” and “Let us in or let us go.” If citizenship were granted, demographics would see Israel become a majority Palestinian state within a few generations. If it were not granted, the world would turn on Israel at it did on South Africa during the apartheid regime. The result in either case would be a democratic but no longer Jewish state. Democracy would, I imagine, lead to Islamic rule that would in time lead to Jews fearing for their lives in what was the Jewish state. US Jews would then pressure the United States to rescue Jews from Palestine (I imagine the state would be renamed Palestine) and allow mass migration of former Israeli Jews into the United States. This may or may not work, but if it does American Jewry needs to prepare itself now to assimilate Israelis on a massive scale. Of course I am probably wrong about all of this. Perhaps Israel will agree to withdraw to the Green Line, share Jerusalem as a capital, and repatriate Palestinian refugees; Palestine will eschew all militarization and violence, welcome the Jewish settlers in their midst with open arms as fully enfranchised citizens of Palestine, and become a secular, democratic and economic dynamo; and Hamas and the Islamic Jihad will become nonviolent social organizations helping the poorest of the poor to get into the middle class. Or perhaps not. _A congregational rabbi for 20 years, Rabbi Rami currently co-directs_ [_One River Wisdom School_](oneriverwisdomschool.com) _and_ [_Holy Rascals Foundation_](holyrascals.com)_._ _More from Patheos:_ * [Jew Hatred: The Jew Is the World’s Bogeyman](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rabbiramishapiro/2014/08/jew-hatred/) * [Brian McLaren: Israel, Gaza, Sanity and Insanity](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/brianmclaren/2014/08/israel-gaza-sanity-and-insanity-part-2/) * [New University of MD Study Finds Right-Wing Extremists, Not Muslims, Greatest Terrorist Threat to U.S.](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wwjtd/2014/08/new-study-ranks-right-wing-extremists-as-greatest-terrorist-threat-to-america/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3083271/what-if-palestinians-became-israeli-citizens/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3083271/what-if-palestinians-became-israeli-citizens/"},"headline":"What if Palestinians Became Israeli Citizens?","datePublished":"2014-08-06T15:36:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:07.092Z","description":"This article originally appeared on Patheos. 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