EsinIslam Portal Media Network

17 February 2014

By Khalid Amayreh

PLO Central Committee member Nabil Amr has been quoted as saying that a recognition by the Palestinian Authority (PA) of Israel as a Jewish state is possible in some form.

He added, however, that this recognition would need to be approved by a referendum.

On Friday morning, American Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told Israel Radio that the "framework agreement" is likely to include recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

It is uncertain if Amr was voicing his own opinion or trying to just test Palestinian public reactions to a possible move toward recognizing Israel as a Jewish state by the PA leadership.

The PLO-PA leadership consistently refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, citing undeclared Israeli motives behind the "impossible demand."

Most Palestinians interpret the Israeli demand as a rabid effort by the Zionist establishment to wrest from the weak Palestinian leadership a recognition or an acknowledgment that Israel has or will have the right to expel Palestinians who are Israeli citizens, especially if and when the Palestinian minority, which constitutes more than 20% of Israel's overall population, poses a demographic challenge to Israel's "Jewish identity."

Moreover, the manifestly racist demand does also denote and connote Israel's right to refuse to allow the repatriation of any significant number of Palestinian refugees, violently uprooted from their homes when Israel was established in Palestine in 1948.

Unfortunately, the PA leadership seems overzealous to reach a deal with Israel by the hook or by the crook. This is why many Palestinians, including this writer, don't feel that the PA can really be entrusted with the paramount task of safeguarding Palestinian national interests, especially our inalienable rights.

True, in peace negotiations, it is often necessary to show a certain degree of good will in order to outmaneuver one's enemy. However, the fundamental issues including the right of return must not be subject to political or diplomatic maneuvers of any kind.

Similarly, Abbas and his leadership have no right to prejudice the national survival of the Arab community in Israel. These people are their own masters and neither the PA-PLO nor the Arab League or the organizations of Muslim states have any right to speak on their own behalf.

These people are living in their ancestral homeland and their national existence is an immutable constant not subject to Zionist whims and vagaries. In short, Palestinians across the Green Line are not and must not be used as bargaining chip or negotiation asset by the Ramallah leadership.

Some PLO leaders, who follow the adage "feed me today and kill me tomorrow," might be prompted to think that Israel is using this issue of recognizing her as a Jewish state as a mere negotiation tactic to outmaneuver the Palestinians and that in light of this the Palestinians must reciprocate by heeding the Israeli demand if only to deprive Israel of this mantra.

However, it would be too foolhardy to think this way because in the final analysis Israel has one strategic goal and that is to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

Hence, there is no doubt that the recognition by the PLO of Israel as a Jewish state would be tantamount to committing an act of lewdness with the Palestinian cause.

This is why the Palestinian leadership must be warned in the strongest terms against tampering with Palestinian national constants.

We must loudly protest any indication suggesting that the PA is about to sell out our inalienable rights in our ancestral homeland.

A few days ago, Israeli negotiator and cabinet minister Tzipi Livni declared that Israel as a Jewish state had no future in the absence of peace.

This shows that time is not on the side of the Jewish entity. In light, we must not help Israel reclaim a future at our expense just in order to please John Kerry and receive from him a certificate of good conduct.

Khalid Amayreh is an American-educated journalist living in the Hebron region of the West Bank.

 

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