Saturday, October 16, 2010

Palestinian Rejectionism Dooms Process


An End to Israel's Invisibility -Michael B. Oren

Nearly 63 years after the UN recognized the right of the Jewish people to independence in their homeland, the Palestinians are still denying the Jewish nature of the state. Why should it matter? Because mutual acceptance is essential if both peoples are to live side by side in two states in genuine and lasting peace.
(New York Times)


Palestinian Leaders Deny Reality, Delay Peace -David Harris

In 2007, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat declared: "No state in the world connects its national identity to its religious identity."

Perhaps Mr. Erekat could explain why we have countries whose formal names include the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Islam is also the official religion in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Comoros, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Israel has made a giant leap in recognizing Palestinian nationhood and the need for a Palestinian state, with all the risks it entails for Israel's security, as a territorial answer to the needs of the Palestinian people. Now the Palestinians need to reciprocate, and the sooner the better, if the current peace process is to have a chance of success.
(Huffington Post)


Recognizing Israel as a Jewish State -Raphael Israeli

Paragraph 20 of the Palestinian National Charter, which has never been amended or annulled, states that the Jews are not a nation and therefore are not entitled to a state. It is interesting that thousands of Arabs from Jordan and Sudan come here to request political asylum in our "repressive" country, but no one is in a hurry to seek refuge in Syria or Libya.
(Ha'aretz)


Israel's Defenders Need to Attack -Melanie Phillips

[F]riends of Israel fret endlessly about whether or not Bibi [Netanyahu] will extend the moratorium on new building in Jewish communities in the disputed territories, rather than ask the much more germane question of what the Palestinians are offering as an equivalent concession. The answer, said former Jerusalem Post editor Bret Stephens, is that they say they will keep the lid on terrorism. So their great concession is to stop killing Jews. Which illustrates that while the issue in contention for Israel is land, that for the Palestinians is mass murder.

Many self-professed "friends" of Israel position themselves on the ground that defines the conflict as being about the boundaries of two states, Israel and Palestine. Hence the almost exclusive focus on the settlements and the territories. This is demonstrably absurd. The only obstacle to peace is the Palestinians' continued and open refusal to accept the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, and thus their continued objective to wage a war of extermination against it. That is why, when the bulk of the territories was offered to them in 2000, their response was to start blowing up Israelis in buses and pizza parlors; that is why, when Jewish settlers were removed from Gaza, their response was to fire thousands of rockets at Israeli towns; and that is why "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas says the Palestinians will never accept Israel as a Jewish state.
(Jewish Chronicle-UK)
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