Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, “Endorsed for the first time the principle of a Palestinian state alongside Israel,” according to the New York Times.
Mr. Netanyahu said of the Palestinians, “We do not want to rule over them, to govern their lives, or to impose our flag or our culture on them.”
His endorsement was conditional on the new state being demilitarized, an obvious need to prevent the creation of another enemy on Israel’s borders. Existing Israeli settlements also have to remain in place under Netanyahu’s plan but than, Israeli Arabs will remain in Israel as citizens living far better lives than the vast majority of Arabs living in Arab lands, just as they have for Israel’s entire history. Palestinians will have to give up what they call their “right of return,” a claim that would return Israeli Jews to the second class or worse status; the status that roughly half the current Israeli population or their ancestors held prior to the creation of Israel. Under Palestinian right of return Israel would no longer be Jewish, thus Jews would quickly be subject to the same rule they had been oppressed under from Mohamed to the creation of Israel.
“The Palestinian leadership must rise up and say in a very straight way that we are tired of this conflict, we will recognize the right of the Jewish people to have a national homeland in this part of the world,” Netanyahu said, according to CNN.
So are the Palestinians celebrating their newly won independence today?
No. Palestinians immediately rejected the offer.
Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat said Netanyahu “Left us with nothing to negotiate as he systematically took nearly every permanent status issue off the table.” Except for the part about becoming an independent state.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said, “Netanyahu’s demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state is ruining the chance for peace,” Egyptian news agencies reported on Monday. Mubarak further added that “not Egypt, nor any other Arab country would support Netanyahu’s approach.”
Peace could lead to incredible good in the Middle East, as I wrote in my series Israeli-Palestinian Peace – La Convivencia II. Instead, the Palestinians continue to hold out. So now, I challenge Palestinian Americans and all Palestinian supporters to convince the Palestinian people to take Netanyahu’s offer and build a future for their children.
Any takers?
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This is an important step, but in reality it’s an opening offer. It remains to be seen whether either side is willing to commit enough to peace negotiations. Netanyahu hasn’t conceded all that much–if there is no 2-state solution, there can’t be a Jewish Israel that’s a democracy. Still, let’s hope it’s enough to get them talking again.
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