How many times must the Palestinians recognize Israel?

[Violet_Crumble]

Netanyahu’s new 'Jewish state' mantra negates the fact that Palestinians recognized Israel more than twenty years ago. They’re still waiting for Israel to recognize Palestine.

Many commentators, including this author, have carefully picked apart the myriad problems involved with Israel's new demand that the Palestinians formally recognize it as a "Jewish state." But at least one of its most problematic aspects has been significantly under-examined and underappreciated. The new demand negates, both in effect and intention, the greatest of Palestinian concessions, their 1993 recognition of the State of Israel.

There is an international consensus in favor of a two-state solution, and even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman now say they, too, support this goal after long careers opposing it. And in the quarter-century campaign to achieve a conflict-ending two-state agreement through direct talks, there remains a dangerous anomaly. One side, the Palestine Liberation Organization, recognized Israel up front. All other details aside, they have long since performed the sine qua non of a two-state agreement by recognizing Israel. The other side, Israel, has never recognized a Palestinian state or, in any formal, written, or legal sense, even the Palestinian right to a state.

There are a great many difficulties with the "Jewish state" demand, and Netanyahu's formulation "the nation-state of the Jewish people" in particular. This phrasing is full of highly problematic definite articles, and suggests a trans-historical claim to this land on behalf of an entire but undefined ethno-religious group the world over, not just the present Jewish Israeli majority. It harkens back to pre-state Zionism, defining Israel as if the state had not actually been created and several generations of Jewish and Arab Israelis had not been born there.

This framing also begs the question about the status of Palestinian citizens of Israel, who already face significant discrimination in many sectors because they are not Jewish. This is one of the reasons the PLO finds the demand so problematic: They will not agree to implicitly endorse the restrictions Palestinian citizens of Israel now face, or may face in the future.

Moreover, Israel itself cannot define what a "Jewish state" means, exactly. There were several attempts in the last Knesset to introduce legislation to clarify the term; all of them failed miserably because while there is a consensus among Jewish Israelis that their state is in some sense "Jewish," there is no consensus whatsoever as to what that entails. So, in effect, Palestinians are being asked to agree to something that even the Israelis cannot define with any degree of specificity.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.579701

[shira]

1. Netanyahu's "new" Jewish state mantra? Arafat accepted a Jewish state in 1988....

...confirmed it again in an Haaretz interview in 2004.

Another shitty OP.

[Violet_Crumble]

2. Let's put aside for a moment yr desire to defend Netanyahu...

Let's pretend for a moment that yr correct. If the Palestinians have accepted Israel as a Jewish state, why have you constantly in the past insisted that they haven't even accepted Israel?

And if they already have, why is Nutty pretending that they haven't and insisting they do all over something yr now saying they've already done?

[shira]

3. It's not about defending Netanyahu. It's about standing up to lies and slander.

You're the one defending Abbas' refusal to to recognize a Jewish state, especially when you have to "pretend as if" Arafat never said what he said. He said it, so let's deal with the reality.

Let's pretend for a moment that yr correct. If the Palestinians have accepted Israel as a Jewish state, why have you constantly in the past insisted that they haven't even accepted Israel?

And if they already have, why is Nutty pretending that they haven't and insisting they do all over something yr now saying they've already done?

The Palestinians never officially accepted Israel as a Jewish state. They've never done so in Arabic while addressing Palestinians. Abbas is refusing to do so now, which goes to prove they still have yet to do it.

[Violet_Crumble]

4. Yr contradicting yrself now...

First you attack the OP going on about how Netanyahu's demand isn't new at all and that the Palestinians had recognised Israel as a Jewish state (that was yr first post). Now in yr second post in this thread you've apparently forgotten what you said in the post before that and are now saying that the Palestinians have never recognised Israel as a Jewish state.

Do you think you could grasp onto something and stick to it for at least ten minutes before contradicting yrself? It's making my head spin...

[shira]

5. True or False. Have the Palestinians officially recognized a Jewish state?

I know, tough question....but you can answer it.

[azurnoir]

7. lol Arafats non-precedent

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113459339#post2

[Scootaloo]

11. Well, they have no reason to do so

First off, it'd be a lie. Israel is no more a Jewish state, than the United States is a white or Christian state. Say what you like but a third of Israelis aren't any variety of Jewish, and it's awfully damn hard to pretend to be a democracy if you're setting out to write out a third of your population for being the wrong race or religion.

Second, it's not up to the Palestinians to determine what Israel is and is not. Might as well be Lithuania demanding that Bolivia recognize it as a Russian orthodox state, for all the sense this makes.

This "demand" is simple obstructionism from Netanyahu and his supporters. he could be demanding that the palestinian delegation perform Gaga's "Poker Face" on live TV for all it matters.

[Jefferson23]

6. For what it's worth: Palestinian daily claims US isn’t insisting the PA recognize Jewish Israel

Al-Quds claims State Dep’t says key Israeli demand is not critical to peace talks, but spokesperson’s reported comments don’t appear in briefing transcript

By Times of Israel staff March 9, 2014



Israel’s demand to be recognized as a Jewish state by the Palestinian Authority may be a secondary issue in the eyes of the Obama administration, a Palestinian daily claimed Saturday. But the “quotation” it cited to back up this claim could not be independently confirmed.

The Jerusalem-based Al-Quds claimed that State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki, answering questions from its reporter, suggested that within the context of any final agreement between the two parties, Palestinian recognition of Israel may not play a critical role.

“Our position is that Israel is a Jewish state, but it is not necessary for the two sides to agree on this in the final agreement,” al-Quds quoted Psaki as saying, according to an English translation of an Arabic transcript of her quote. ”Negotiations have not been concluded yet. The negotiations are not about what’s important for the United States, but about what is important to both sides and their priorities.”

However, the quotation could not be independently verified, and an official State Department transcript of Psaki’s Friday daily press briefing, the possible source of the Al-Quds report, does not include the same phraseology. Psaki did answer questions on the issue, but merely said: “…If you look at the issue of a Jewish state and whether Israel will be called a Jewish state, that’s been our position, as you know, for a long time, but that doesn’t reflect what the parties will agree to, which I know you know, and of course there are many issues like that that are being discussed as part of the framework. So to us, it is not a surprise that at this pivotal point in the discussions, as we’re getting down to the later end of the nine-month timeframe, there would be heated rhetoric and language by both sides about what they are and aren’t willing to make compromises about.”

Read more: Palestinian daily claims US isn't insisting the PA recognize Jewish Israel | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/washington-pa-doesnt-need-to-recognize-jewish-israel/#ixzz2vwLNeNT8
Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook


The demand is about RoR, hopefully Abbas will stand against it.

[Jefferson23]

8. Kerry: 'Mistake' to use Jewish state recognition as deal breaker

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday that it is problematic for people to continue raising the issue of whether Palestinians would agree to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Breitbart reported.

"I think it's a mistake for some people to be, you know, raising it again and again as the critical decider of their attitude towards the possibility of a state and peace, and we've obviously made that clear," he said when asked to state the Obama administration's official position on the matter, as quoted in the report.

Kerry added that the issue was resolved in 1947, referring to UN Resolution 181 that divided Palestine into two states, one for Jews and one for Arabs, and reminded of former PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat's recognition of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state in 1988.

According to the report, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said last week that the U.S. considers Israel as a Jewish state, but doesn't require the Palestinians to do so.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.579818

[azurnoir]

9. Thanks there might be some hope yet

[Jefferson23]

10. Hope so.

Morning, azurnoir