Israel is the national state of the Jewish people. But the leaders of the ‘moderate' or ‘pragmatic' wing of Palestinian society refuse to acknowledge this basic fact. They are willing to acknowledge that Israel is a country in which Jewish people live (see the statement of Mahmoud Abbas below). But they will not recognise that Jews have national rights. As we show below, they repeatedly declare that under no circumstances will they recognise Israel as a Jewish state. At the same time, they vigorously demand the creation of a Palestinian state. Palestinians would of course have national rights in that country. The following quotes are from leading ‘moderate' Palestinians, and demonstrate this mindset:-
The views above are echoed by influential voices among Arabs living inside Israel :
These statements and the two-state solution These statements were made around the Annapolis conference of November 2007. At the time, Israeli officials were so taken aback, there were suggestions that the Annapolis process could be suspended. But in the event, Annapolis and the talks which followed went ahead anyway. Israeli politicians said nothing about the issue for over a year. But the Annapolis process has not reached a conclusion, and Israelis are once more expressing alarm:- “Palestinians have consistently refused to acknowledge that Israel is the national state of the Jewish people and should be recognised as such, even as they are claiming the future state of Palestine as their national state. There is a problem there that needs to be sorted out” - Yigal Palmor, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, reported in the Jerusalem Post, 19 November 2008 The arguments of Palestinians against recognising Israel as a Jewish state: “Judaism is a religion not a nationality” – this is not the case. Judaism is a distinct identity – of the Jewish people. It is shared by religious and non-religious Jews alike. “No state defines itself by religion” – firstly, Judaism is not just a religion, and secondly this is in any case also plainly untrue. There are dozens of ‘Islamic' states, which define themselves as such. “Recognising Israel requires us to be Zionists” - this is untrue. It is possible to respect the national rights and aspirations of another people, without fulfilling those rights yourself. Most Israelis now recognise the Palestinian right to a state – it does not make them into Palestinian nationalists. Most Norwegian people recognise the rights of the Swedish people to a state. That does not make the Norwegians into Swedish nationalists. Recognising Israel as a Jewish state, and the Palestinian ‘right of return' The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee explained that one reason they opposed recognising Israel as a Jewish state is that it hinder the fulfilment of the Palestinian ‘right of return' into Israel . In other words, they consider that Palestinian Arabs should have an equal right to Jews to live in Israel . This stance provides strong proof that the Arabs have not relinquished the desire for a massive ‘right of return' into Israel at some point in the future. Key messages A two-state solution is based on a fundamental premise – that a Jewish state would coexist side-by-side with a Palestinian state. Jews would have national rights in the Jewish state, and Palestinians would have national rights in their state. Under the two-state solution, Jews from outside could migrate into the Jewish State. Palestinians from outside the territories could migrate into the future Palestinian state. The above quotes make clear that the moderate wing of the Palestinians – the wing with whom Israel is supposed to cut a deal – do not accept this fundamental premise. They want something for the Palestinian state – recognition - which they deny to the Jewish state. Most Western diplomats and politicians assume that the moderate wing of the Palestinians accept a two-state solution. This assumption ignores the facts set out in this Briefing. Related Beyond Images Briefings: “Five foundations of Israel 's right to exist” (Briefing 167, February 2006) “Leading Palestinian cartoonist: Israel should not exist” (Briefing 39, 2003) “ Israel 's Law of Return: fulfilling a humanitarian mission”(Briefing 2, July 2002) “Recognising Israel 's right to exist: actions speak louder than words” (Briefing 6, 2002)
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