The media reported that Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), rejected the peace proposals submitted by US Secretary of State John Kerry. The Palestinians leaked that Abbas sent a letter to Kerry reiterating his complete opposition to the demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This was declared a “red line” that the Palestinians will not cross.
This “red line” is not just about semantics, but rather the essence of the conflict. The Palestinian position amounts to denying the Jews the right to establish their state in their homeland. It also indicates without any doubt that the Palestinians, despite the conventional wisdom, are not ready to reach a historic compromise with Zionism, the Jewish national revival movement. Therefore, a stable peace based on mutual recognition and ending all demands is not in the cards. The weak PA seems to accept partition of Mandatory Palestine into two states – perhaps in accordance with the PLO’s stages approach – but it still refrains from accepting the legitimacy of the Zionist enterprise.
This is in stark contrast to Israel, which recognized the “legitimate rights of the Palestinians” in the September 1978 Camp David Accords, and is ready for generous territorial concessions in order to implement a partition of the Land of Israel/Palestine. The bitter truth is that the asymmetry in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has not changed for over a century. In essence, this ethno-religious conflict is not about territory – although it obviously has a territorial dimension – but about securing the recognition of the other side to national rights in a given territory.
Despite the image of untrustworthiness in keeping written agreements, Palestinians actually give great importance to the language used in the documents they are asked to sign. Yasser Arafat, generally viewed by most Israelis as an accomplished liar, refused in 2000 to sign an agreement that included a clause about an end to all demands. For him the conflict could end only with Israel’s eventual demise. Similarly, Abbas cannot bring himself to put his signature to a document which says that the Jews have returned to their homeland. We know that the perception of Jews being foreign invaders of Palestine is a fundamental widespread Palestinian attitude, which is instilled in the younger generations in the PA-run schools.
The entrenchment of such attitudes is clear also by the lack of a debate among the Palestinians whether to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Discussing Jewish rights to the Land of Israel is not conceivable in the current intra-Palestinian deliberations. Not even the so-called Palestinian moderates are calling for a debate among the Palestinians on whether to recognize the right of self-determination of the Jews in their historic homeland. Palestinian polls do not ask whether Israel should be recognized as a Jewish state. Normative language mentioning rights and international norms in Palestinian discourse is reserved for Palestinian demands only, and is never applied to understand what Israelis want.
The efforts of the Palestinian media to negate the Jewish past and historic links to the Temple Mount, and even the Western Wall, indicate an ideological commitment to rewriting history. Palestinian archeology is similarly used to erase all traces of Jewish presence from the land. Even Koranic sources mentioning the links of the Jews to the Land of Israel are ignored. Such Palestinian behavior serves only to prolong the conflict because it does not teach the Palestinians that Jews are part of the history of this land. All these acts are intolerable and must stop before Israel considers signing a comprehensive peace agreement.
It was a mistake not to insist on recognition of Israel being a Jewish state in the negotiations with the Palestinians in the 1990s. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu understands very well the need for such recognition by the Palestinians to ensure a historic peace deal, and his insistence on getting it in the framework of a comprehensive settlement is right on the mark.
Moreover, Palestinians are different than the Egyptians or Jordanians, who were not required to accept Israel as a Jewish state. They have no claims to Palestine, while it is the Palestinians and the Israelis that fight for the same piece of land.
The Israelis recognized Palestinian legitimate rights 35 years ago. It is high time for the Palestinians to learn about the “other” they are in conflict with, and reciprocate if they are serious about making peace.
Prof. Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, is a professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.
The PLO / PA do not accept a Jewish State in Israel because simply they want it all. Look at their maps and what they teach their kids. They say it is all theirs. Abbas is in favor of a two stage solution. First he is presented on a silver platter a state up to the 67 lines. The Jews leave the west bank. Israel gets a piece of paper not peace.
Then the PLO and Hamas go back to terrorism to obtain the rest of Israel no matter how long it takes. Israel is now in much worse security situation and the country would be in shambles because of all the Jews that had moved out of the West Bank.
This is their plan. They say it in Arabic all the time.
So Israel would be self destructive to give them a millimeter of land.
Were one a Palestinian, admitting Israel as a “Jewish” state would open up a can of worms. It would imply no Palestinian right of return; and might imply no right of sovereignty anywhere in Judea and Samaria.
The official PA reason given for the refusal to sign is that such a phrase would void a right of return.
I can understand why Netanyahu insists on it; and I can understand why Abbas rejects it.
What is interesting is that Abbas does not offer a differently worded forumulation. For ex: “Israel is a state that Jews have a right to settle.”
Such a phrase would not void a right of return to Palestinians; nor would it void Palestinian rights. It would merely acknowledge Jewish rights (and not even exclusively).
The Palestinian stance is interesting and shows the Palestinian mindset.
Hmmm?!
Israel wisely never recognized their right to sovereignty as an independent state with open borders — and does not now. Even in Gaza, Israel never recognized Gaza’s right to open sea access; but only withdrew to the perimeters; and counted on Egypt to control Rafah – which under Mubarak and Sisi, they do.
Even here, Abbas could counter …. if you want recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, we want recognition of “Palestine as a Palestinian state with all the rights of independence you claim, including an open border with Jordan.”
I would hope Israel never grants such a right.
WHAT IS INTERESTING IS THAT THE PALESTINIANS NEVER DECLARE WHAT THEY WILL AGREE TO.
Well, I am not in favor of TSS, anyway.