Tuesday, April 28, 2009
It's all so very revealing. Mahmoud Abbas and his 'government' just can't acknowledge the basic fact of Israel as a Jewish State -- as though it's any of his business. Of course, he does consider it his business, because there has been no aspect of Palestinian Arab culture that hasn't demonstrated that it considers the "two state" solution as nothing more than a "one Arab state" solution. I love what the Netanyahu Government is revealing with one simple immutable position:
Following is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' response to remarks made today by Palestinian Chairman Mahmud Abbas relating to recognition of Israel as a Jewish state:
The recognition of Israel as the sovereign state of the Jewish people is an essential and necessary step in the historic process of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians.
The more the Palestinians assimilate this fundamental and substantive fact, the sooner the peace between the two nations will progress toward fruition.
Soccer Dad has an excellent roundup of links and commentary on some of the background: What's a jewish state got to do with it? It includes this observation from Barry Rubin:
...This is not the real issue. The real issue is this: much of the world wants Israel to agree in advance to give the Palestinian Authority (PA) what they think it wants without any concessions or demonstration of serious intent on its part.
The first problem is that the demand is totally one-sided. Does the PA truly accept a two-state solution? That isn't what it tells its own people in officials' speeches, documents of the ruling Fatah group, schools, the sermons of PA-appointed clerics, and the PA-controlled media.
The second problem is that PA compliance with its earlier commitments is pretty miserable, though this is a point that almost always goes unmentioned in Western diplomatic declarations and media...
Netanyahu is one of the few prominent world leaders today - the only one who comes immediately to mind - whose vision for peace is soundly and forcefully articulated and realistically framed.
Here's his address yesterday, given at the memorial service for Israel's fallen soldiers.
It would be nice if the world were a different place than it is - but it is not so. Peace conceived within a realistic framework is the vision that tempers and informs that memorial speech, and it's the only truer type of peace that can is achieveable.
(Meanwhile, speaking of world leaders, Obama fumbles yet again with a teleprompter. And I don't believe that's a cheap shot only, I believe it to be indicative of his Carteresque sense of the world and a level of incompetence that, minimally, is well worth attending to.)
Well I don't see what Telepromptergate has to do with a Carteresque view of the world:)
But - I do agree with the observation that there's an essential lack of realism concerning the "peace process" and the Jewishness of Israel is a big part of that.
The argument that this is merely a territorial or border dispute is pretty obviously untrue.
It hadn't actually occurred to me that Netanyahu was asking such a provocative question, for the simple reason that we in the West take it for granted that Israel's creation was precisely though not exclusively to be the homeland for the Jewish people.
Apparently that's more of a sticking point than people want to acknowledge!
Koran forbids Muslims to give any land to Jews. Jews can live in Dar-al-Salam(the Muslim lands including the Middle east) but only as 2nd class citizens.
Giving the jews the ability to rule on part of the Arab lands is impossible and therefor Abbas can never recognize any such right. Koran is God. Abbas a mortal.