The Democratic State of Israel-Palestine?
That is the vision of a small but growing number of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs debating whether to end decades of demanding an independent Palestinian state and to push instead for one homeland for Arabs and Jews.
The chances of ever getting Israeli acceptance are as good as nil. Most vehemently oppose a "bi-national" state because a higher Arab birth rate would kill Israel's character as a Jewish state.
But the idea has started rumbling among Palestinians, especially intellectuals who argue that Israeli policies make a viable state impossible and who think it could be time for a shift in strategy.
"We need a one-state solution. I know in a few years this concept will be the main concept in our struggle," said Asad Ghanem, a politics professor at Israel's Haifa University.
Jewish settlements and a West Bank barrier that Israel says it needs to keep out suicide bombers will leave Palestinians with cantons surrounded by Israeli-controlled land instead of the state they want, the intellectuals say.
Israel's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip has only heightened their worries. They fear that in exchange for Gaza, Israel will use its barrier to annex far larger parts of the West Bank, which it also captured in a 1967 war.
"You cannot have a two-state solution while they build the wall," said Palestinian analyst Ali Jarbawi, who has advised the Palestinian Authority to switch to a one-state agenda.
"Ten years from now we are going to say: 'We are under apartheid. This is apartheid and we want our rights.'"
The idea is dismissed by the United States, Israel's main ally and the most important peace broker for the region by far.
Washington says the only way forward is a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state and Israel living side by side.
Supporters say their bi-national vision could include the return of Palestinian refugees who have fled since the Arab-Israeli war at Israel's creation in 1948 - an explosive issue for Israel.
Some would also allow most Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza to stay - anathema to most Palestinians.
Recent Palestinian polls show up to 25 per cent support for a bi-national state, although the majority still back two states. A smaller percentage see the only solution as replacing Israel with an Arab state.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie has said that Palestinians could pursue the bi-national idea if Israel denies them a viable state, but for now the official Palestinian position is for two separate countries rather than the new idea.
"It is building up among academics and intellectuals but it is not affecting the leadership or the street," said Mahdi Abdel Hadi, head of the Palestinian think tank Passia, who backs two states.
A bi-national state is a complete non-starter for most Israelis whose fears of a growing Arab population have boosted support for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for "disengagement" from the Palestinians and the years of conflict.
Demographers forecast that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and kindred Israeli Arabs will be a majority in the Palestinian territories and Israel by 2010 because of the higher Arab birth-rate.
About 4.8 million Arabs live in Israel and the Palestinian territories, compared with more than 5.1 million Israeli Jews.
Only a handful of leftist Israeli Jews say they support a one-state plan.
"In the short term, what people want to do is separate. But it never delivers the goods. All that separation has delivered is more violence," said historian Ilan Pappe.
"I don't think even a bi-national state is the last phase. I think it is a democratic, secular state."
Some Israeli critics have dismissed the idea as simply a tactic to frighten Israel into giving up land with the demographic threat.
But its backers insist that they are sincere, while acknowledging that it will be hard to persuade Palestinians to abandon their long-held dreams of statehood en masse.
"I believe in an Israel-Palestine state," Mr Ghanem said. "I am not thinking it will be in the next five years."