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The Problem Is Palestinian Rejectionism: Why the PA Must Recognize a Jewish State

(Foreign Affairs) Yosef Kuperwasser and Shalom Lipner - Nearly two decades of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have failed miserably. The key reason for this failure is the Palestinians' refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The basic paradigm of the Oslo accords, signed in 1993, held that both the Israelis and the Palestinians were, at long last, prepared to recognize the legitimacy of each other's national rights and aspirations. Yet over the course of the last 18 years, the rhetoric and actions of the Palestinian leadership have proved that paradigm wrong. The Palestinians have not in fact recognized the legitimacy of the national rights of the Jewish people. The true reason for the intransigence among Palestinian officials has nothing to do with settlement building; rather, it is their continued rejection of the Jewish character of Israel. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the U.S. Congress this past May, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state." He continued: "The Palestinians have been unwilling to accept a Palestinian state if it meant accepting a Jewish state alongside it." The Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state stands at the root of the struggle and behind every so-called core issue, from determining borders to resolving the dispute over Palestinian refugees. Genuine reconciliation can be achieved, then, only once the Palestinians come to terms with Israel's existence as a Jewish state. The Islamic groups are hardly alone in believing that Israel should be entirely destroyed. As recently as 2009, Fatah, the supposedly moderate party that constitutes the largest faction of the PLO, reaffirmed its official charter, which mandates the continuation of armed struggle until the Palestinians have achieved the "complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military, and cultural existence." Institutions such as the PLO and the Palestinian Authority continue to indoctrinate the Palestinian public against any acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state. A peace based on mutual recognition is the only long-term antidote to the deep-seated cultural animosity between the two sides. Any agreement that does not address the underlying ideological motivations of the conflict would allow for an eruption of hostilities at the first sign of trouble. True progress between the Israelis and the Palestinians will require a daring paradigm shift. Rather than a focus on the issues of settlement activity and territory, success in the negotiations will first require at least a tentative change in the Palestinian position on recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Brig. Gen. (res.) Yosef Kuperwasser is Director General of Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs and former head of the Analysis and Production Division of the Israel Defense Forces' Directorate of Military Intelligence. Shalom Lipner has served in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office since 1990.
2011-11-02 00:00:00
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