The Arab reaction
One prominent feature of the responses to PM Netanyahu's speech was the uniformly negative reaction in all Arab capitals and from the Palestinians. Instead of reacting positively to his acceptance of a Palestinian State existing side by side with Israel, their reaction was totally negative. To assess their abhorence of Netanyahu's conditions for recognition of a Palestinian State one PA spokesman stated that Netanyhau has put peace negotiations back 1,000 years! Both Egypt and Jordan, our peace partners, strongly criticized Netanyahu's speech.
What is it that upsets them so much? The answer is complex, but surely his condition that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a "Jewish State" is at the core of the problem. So far they say that they (the PA) have agreed to recognize Israel, but not as a "Jewish" State. The problem according to one spokesman is that doing so would undermine their condition that Israel must accept the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees, and that if they recognize Israel as a Jewish State this right would be negated. But, one thing that Netanyahu made clear is that they can't have it both ways, they can't have a State of their own ("Palestine") and have the "refugees" return to Israel, thus making it another "Palestinian State." This would undermine Israel's existence and lead eventually to a "one State solution."
So both sides see the two conditions that Netanyahu set as being connected, for Israel to remain a Jewish State the "right of return" of the refugees to Israel is impossible. They must return to their own State if it is established, or be settled where they live and have lived for 60 years in their "diaspora," much like the Jews were either settled in Israel (850,000 from Arab countries) or stayed where they are.
Another feature of the negative reaction was on the issue of the demilitarization of the putative Palestinian State. It has been a feature of all previous Israeli negotiations that Israel's security must be protected. There cannot be a free supply of arms to a Palestinian State established on the West Bank, since this would be a constant threat to the existence of Israel, much like Gaza is now. Note that the threat is not the other way around, Israel will participate in the formation of a Palestinian State and will not threaten it's existence, but terrorism always comes from the Arab side. We cannot live with guns, rockets and missiles aimed at the heart of our population and at Ben Gurion airport.
Finally, the Arabs reject the right of Israel to continue to have "natural growth" or as they call it "expansion of settlements" on the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). As Netanyahu pointed out, this is the ancient Jewish homeland, and the Palestinians have been occupying it for hundreds of years. We are prepared to accept that they have a right to live there, but so do we. These issues can only be decided as a result of negotiations.
So these are conditions that the Palestinians must grapple with if they want to have peace. If they don't come forward and grasp the nettle, it would indicate that they don't really want to make peace with us. So now the ball is in the Palestinian court and if Pres. Obama wants to have negotiations as he says he does he knows the Palestinian address.
What is it that upsets them so much? The answer is complex, but surely his condition that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a "Jewish State" is at the core of the problem. So far they say that they (the PA) have agreed to recognize Israel, but not as a "Jewish" State. The problem according to one spokesman is that doing so would undermine their condition that Israel must accept the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees, and that if they recognize Israel as a Jewish State this right would be negated. But, one thing that Netanyahu made clear is that they can't have it both ways, they can't have a State of their own ("Palestine") and have the "refugees" return to Israel, thus making it another "Palestinian State." This would undermine Israel's existence and lead eventually to a "one State solution."
So both sides see the two conditions that Netanyahu set as being connected, for Israel to remain a Jewish State the "right of return" of the refugees to Israel is impossible. They must return to their own State if it is established, or be settled where they live and have lived for 60 years in their "diaspora," much like the Jews were either settled in Israel (850,000 from Arab countries) or stayed where they are.
Another feature of the negative reaction was on the issue of the demilitarization of the putative Palestinian State. It has been a feature of all previous Israeli negotiations that Israel's security must be protected. There cannot be a free supply of arms to a Palestinian State established on the West Bank, since this would be a constant threat to the existence of Israel, much like Gaza is now. Note that the threat is not the other way around, Israel will participate in the formation of a Palestinian State and will not threaten it's existence, but terrorism always comes from the Arab side. We cannot live with guns, rockets and missiles aimed at the heart of our population and at Ben Gurion airport.
Finally, the Arabs reject the right of Israel to continue to have "natural growth" or as they call it "expansion of settlements" on the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). As Netanyahu pointed out, this is the ancient Jewish homeland, and the Palestinians have been occupying it for hundreds of years. We are prepared to accept that they have a right to live there, but so do we. These issues can only be decided as a result of negotiations.
So these are conditions that the Palestinians must grapple with if they want to have peace. If they don't come forward and grasp the nettle, it would indicate that they don't really want to make peace with us. So now the ball is in the Palestinian court and if Pres. Obama wants to have negotiations as he says he does he knows the Palestinian address.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:07 PM
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