by Zalman Shoval
With every passing day
that brings us closer to January, when the Americans intend to unveil
their "framework agreement," we see increased Palestinian efforts to
sabotage and postpone the negotiation process.
Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas dispatched a diplomatic message to U.S.
President Barack Obama that included the Palestinians' traditionally
extremist positions, along with an attempt to grasp onto security
understandings allegedly reached during negotiations with former Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert ("understandings" that have long passed their
expiration date and which were irrelevant and discarded even at the
time).
Within this context, we
should pay attention to comments made by Dr. Muhammad Shtayyeh,
formerly a member of the Palestinian negotiating team, one of the
leaders of the Fatah movement and considered to be a close confidant of
Abbas, at a press conference last week. Without any attempt at disguise
his words, Shtayyeh expressed what Abbas himself and chief Palestinian
negotiator Saeb Erekat prefer to not say aloud at this stage, as it
pertains to recognizing Israel "as the Jewish national homeland" or as
"the Jewish state."
Meanwhile, even though
the Palestinians are not showing any clear signs of flexibility on the
other issues (refugees, Jerusalem, borders, security, etc.), it seems
that the matter of recognition, or more precisely the lack of
recognition, is playing an increasing role in how they conduct
themselves.
On our side there are
those who have raised an eyebrow and inquired, either innocently or with
intent to butt heads, "Why is Netanyahu insisting so much on receiving
recognition from the Palestinians?" Those who make this argument are
ignoring the point or do not understand the real reasons behind the
all-out war being waged by the Palestinians on this issue. Outwardly
they list reasons such as the claim that defining Israel as a Jewish
state could threaten the status, even the existence of non-Jews living
in Israel -- a demagogic argument largely aimed at slandering Israel.
But the real reason, as
stated, is different: The Islamic world in general and the Palestinians
in particular reject the very notion of the Jews as a nation or people,
and because in their view Judaism is only a religion it stands to
reason that the Jews do not deserve their own state. That is why
Shtayyeh reiterated the following during his press conference: "Maybe a
state for Jews, but not a Jewish state."
What stems from this is
that while the official Palestinian position supports the creation of a
Palestinian state, there are quite a few Palestinians who ultimately
hope for one state for two peoples (in which the Jewish minority would
be allowed, in the best case, to live as second-class citizens, just as
they did for centuries in various Arab lands).
"There is indeed a
state called Israel, which for lack of any other choice we were forced
to recognize as an existing fact because it is stronger than us
militarily and because it has an ally like America," they say, "but if
the day comes when these basic variables change, we will know how to
deal with this illegitimate state, which settled in our midst and which
the nations of the world created at our expense to compensate the Jews
for what they did to them in the Holocaust."
Prof. Yehezkel Dror
wrote years ago that even if we reach an agreement with the Palestinians
(which he supported pursuing), such a thing would not necessarily
guarantee an end to the conflict. Shtayyeh's words only serve to confirm
this sentiment. The recognition of Israel as the national homeland of
the Jewish people is the real test for the Palestinians and whether they
truly are serious about peace.
The equation is simple: Not
recognizing Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people means
not recognizing the right of the Jewish people to its own country; in
other words, Israel's right to exist.
Zalman Shoval
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=6797
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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