Prime Minister Netanyahu has recently chosen to place the long-standing Israeli demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, at the center of the negotiations. Heretofore a secondary issue, he even agreed to a temporary extension of the settlement freeze in exchange. Though the timing was clearly designed as a tactical ploy, the demand itself is substantive and highly important.
Why, the Palestinians ask, should they be required to address the question of Israel’s character; it is enough that they recognize its right to exist. No, it is not enough. After sixty-two years of Israeli independence and nearly a century of conflict, the Palestinians must recognize Israel for what it is. They are not being asked to define Israel’s character, merely to accept its self-definition.
But, rejoin critics of Israel, there is no symmetry here. Whereas Israel is being asked to recognize the right of the Palestinian nation to a state, the Palestinians are being asked to recognize a religious group’s claim.
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of Jewish history, prevalent even among diaspora Jews. The Jews are unique, in that they are both a religious group and a people, a nation, with a right of self-determination. That is why we speak of the “Jewish people”, a Jewish nationhood, but not a Christian people, or a Muslim people. The Jews’ right to a nation-state was recognized by the League of Nations and United Nations. Israel is and always will be the nation-state of the Jewish people. That is its raison d’être, and it is high time that the Palestinians reconcile themselves to this.
Source: nationalinterest.org
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