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Israel Pushes Palestinians to Acknowledge Its Jewish Character

(Los Angeles Times) Edmund Sanders - Israel's recent push to be recognized as a "Jewish" state is actually a new twist on an old struggle. Israel defines itself as a Jewish state in its declaration of independence. U.S. Presidents Obama and George W. Bush have embraced the term, which was used in the 1947 UN resolution calling for the establishment of two states, one Jewish and the other Palestinian Arab. "The demand that Israel be recognized as a Jewish state isn't a tactic or ploy, but something deeply important," said Yoram Meital, chairman of Ben-Gurion University's Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy. "It's really the basis for everything else." Beginning in 2007, some Israelis began insisting that the PLO's recognition of Israel's "right to exist" was not enough and that some sort of endorsement of a "Jewish state" was necessary. The adjustment stemmed from growing Israeli concerns that Palestinians still might one day try to wrest control of the country through the expanding Arab Israeli minority - already one-fifth of Israel's citizenry - and the possible influx of Palestinian refugees. Israelis worried that, in light of the shifting demographics and the country's democratic ideals, they'd left a giant loophole that could allow Palestinians to one day turn Israel into an Arab-dominated country. Because Palestinians want their own state in the West Bank, it was seen as a kind of political double-dipping.
2010-10-20 09:01:35
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