by Ze'ev Jabotinsky
The State of Israel is
demanding recognition as the national homeland of the Jewish people in
the negotiations with the Palestinians. The demand sounds logical and
reasonable to the Western ear. However, Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas firmly opposes it. The Palestinians and their supporters
among the Left are trying to minimize their opposition, claiming that
the demand is dealing with trivialities, and should therefore be taken
off the negotiating table. But the sad truth is that abandoning the
demand will perpetuate the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Israel.
Why?
In 1922, the League of
Nations voted unanimously to accept the text of the Mandate for
Palestine, thus fully recognizing the existence of the Jewish people,
its historical connection to the land of Israel and its right to build a
country there. Furthermore, the League of Nations had the authority to
do this under international law, as an application of the power of
disposition.
Moreover, the document
that this vote turned into international law, which is still in effect,
makes the Jewish people an exception among all residents of the Land of
Israel. According to the document, the civil and religious rights of all
residents will be observed, but political and national rights will be
reserved exclusively for Jewish residents. Exactly the same principles
guide the joint resolution of the House and the Senate (which validated a
law signed by U.S. President Warren Harding) and an international
convention signed by the United States and Britain and ratified by the
signatures of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge and the British monarch,
King George V. Ratification of a convention turns it into part of the
national law code of the signatory countries.
This recognition of us
as a people, of our historical link to the land of Israel and of our
right to sovereignty over it was the reason for the outbreak of the
armed political conflict between Jews and Arabs and the Arab riots of
the 1920s, a conflict that continues in various incarnations until
today. The goal of the Arabs was and still is to completely eliminate
international recognition of our right to Israel. That is why they call
these facts the "Jewish narrative," to reduce its importance and to hide
the fact that opposing these rights contravenes international law. To
undermine the Jewish narrative, they invented an "Arab narrative," the
principles of which are in the Palestine National Charter, written in
1964.
The rationale on which
the charter is based is that Jews share a only a religion, not a
nationality, and therefore they have no right to sovereignty. The
conclusion: Their state must be destroyed and Palestine must be built on
top of the ruins.
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin agreed to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization and to
allow Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip in return for scrapping
the Palestine Charter. In response, Arafat promised (but did not follow
through) to change the clauses in the charter that deny Israel's right
to exist. In his last speech in the Knesset, Rabin said that he sees in
these promised changes the ultimate test of the will and the ability of
the Palestinian Authority, and that the requested changes will be an
important and serious touchstone in continuing and implementing the
agreement as a whole. The changes still have not been made. Moreover,
Palestinian students now memorize the charter -- without the changes --
as part of their school curriculum.
Recognition of Israel
as the national homeland of the Jewish people is a public assertion of
the fact that the Arab narrative, on which they based their murderous
activities, is false. It is the recognition of the Jewish people's right
to sovereignty over the land of Israel. It is for this reason that
Abbas has clearly said that he will never give that recognition; because
he has no intention of ending the conflict before all the Jews have
been removed from the land of Israel.
Ze'ev Jabotinsky
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=7731
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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