What Jewish State?
Israel, and the world along with it, has suffered the delusion for over sixty years that the country was founded as a Jewish state, to provide a safe haven for Jews the world over. And while about one-and-a-half-million of its residents are not Jewish, it essentially represents as a state dedicated to the nationhood of world Jewry. That almost a third of its citizens are not Jewish simply demonstrates its willingness to accommodate other ethnic and religious groups.Far from being the 'racist', 'xenophobic', and 'apartheid' state that its detractors enjoy naming the country, it has more than adequately, and quietly and efficiently, gone about its business, securing the future for itself and its multifarious peoples. Even the Jewish population represents a broad spectrum of different traditions, from the Orthodox to the secular, and Jews coming from various countries of the world, having little in common but their ancestry.
Under its new, hard-line government with Binyamin Netanyahu once again prime minister, the Palestinian Authority has a far more demanding counterpart to deal with than the previous one, willing and eager, albeit with great pain, to give up much that Israel holds dear to win consent for peace from the Palestinians. The sacrifices on the part of Israel to reach an agreement for two states was simply never enough to suit the demands of the Palestinians.
Now the new prime minister - no agreeable Ehud Olmert he - demands a pre-condition. In exchange for his goodwill in proceeding with a peace agreement to lead to the establishment of 'two states for two peoples', Mr. Netanyahu quite reasonably invites the Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel as fundamentally a Jewish state. This request is seen as a profound insult, an assault upon the sensibilities of the Palestinians. Effectively making hash of the thesis: 'two states for two peoples'.
Moreover, were the Palestinians to accede to the precondition and state unequivocally that they agree; Israel is indeed a Jewish state, it would become rather inappropriate for the Palestinians to continue to press for 'right of return', that Israel undertake to absorb millions of Palestinians wishing to 'return' to the territory that is now Israel. In effect, however, the Palestinian Authority's refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, reflects Hamas's refusal to recognize Israel as a legitimate state.
Where then, is the practical difference between the two, Fatah and Hamas? One seeks to destroy Israel overtly, the other by covert means. The newly-appointed U.S. President Obama's administration appointment of George Mitchell as envoy to the Middle East insists that Israel move forward with the PA to create the two-state solution. Mr. Netanyahu, reasonably enough, has informed Mr. Mitchell it is prepared to proceed, when/if the PA recognizes Israel as a Jewish state.
In a hair-splitting exercise, the PA government recognizes Israel, but not Israel the Jewish state. They deem the prior requirement to serious engagement a 'provocation', a deliberate attempt on the part of the new Israeli government to throw a spanner into the works. They, on the other hand, are completely innocent of anything approximating ill-will toward the process.
Then, of course, there's the trifling concerns about security. Having vacated the Gaza Strip in the hopes that that unilateral move would result in a relaxation of hostilities, Israel witnessed instead the complete disintegration of civil life and order into violent anarchy, followed by the usurpation of authority in Gaza by Hamas, with no cessation whatever of violent actions against Israel.
So what guarantees would there be with the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank that the Palestinian Authority would genuinely be concerned with keeping the peace with its neighbour?
Labels: Israel, Middle East, Troublespots, United States
posted by Pieface @ Friday, April 17, 2009
<< Home