The curtain went up last week on the new U.S. administration’s first Mideast diplomatic presentation.
The primary player was U.S. special envoy George Mitchell. He visited with some of the key leaders in the area, exchanged “frank” views with them in private, posed dutifully for photos with his brimming company and made pronouncements outlining the broad peace parameters envisioned by U.S. President Barack Obama.
What we saw was neither drama, nor comedy. At times it bordered on vaudeville, but deep within the unscripted scenes, we heard the soliloquys of tragedy.
At every turn, Mitchell reiterated the American government’s committed to a two-state solution as the ultimate way to bring about peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. There was nothing new in this. Indeed the majority of Israelis hold the same view.
In his meeting with Mitchell, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested out loud, deliberately into the cameras and microphones, that Palestinians must recognize and accept Israel as a Jewish state.
The mere thought, however, of Israel as a Jewish state is anathema to the Palestinians. Palestinian Authority (PA) spokespeople immediately launched into a chorus of recriminations against the Israeli leader.
Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state was “an admission by the Israeli prime minister that he cannot deliver on peace.”
Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official said, “We reject Netanyahu’s demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This demand illustrates the racist nature of Israel and the extremist policies of its government. It also shows that Israel is not serious about making peace with its neighbours.”
Omar al-Ghul, an adviser to PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad, said: “No Palestinian leader can ever accept this demand even if the whole world recognizes Israel as a Jewish state.”
The question that begs to be asked is: Why?
Why if the solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict lies in a two-state answer cannot one of the two states be Jewish? What end result, exactly, do the Palestinians intend if neither of the two states can be for the Jewish people?
“I am prepared to negotiate with any side that desires to advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” Netanyahu told reporters on the weekend in response to the accusation that his declaration was a pre-negotiation demand. “Contrary to reports, I don’t condition dialogue with the Palestinians on recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Nevertheless, progress in the peace process does depend on the willingness to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”
For those of us who believe that the Jewish people as well are entitled to live in their own sovereign state, Netanyahu’s position is eminently reasonable. But more than that, it is surely an obvious, minimal starting point for an end result that envisions two states. We trust and hope that Mitchell and Obama agree that it is.
