‘Jewish state’ label is a trap for Palestinians

Israel has a clear choice of being a democracy or being a religious state, but it cannot be both

srael has always defined itself as a homeland for Jews, but its new insistence that it is a “Jewish state” is designed as a trap for the Palestinians and a ruse to make the one-state solution totally unworkable. This is why Palestinians are right to object to the term and right to refuse to accept that definition of Israel.

It was only in 2007 that the Israelis inserted this clause into their demands for a peaceful settlement when the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made Palestinian recognition of Israel as a ‘Jewish state’ a precondition in the Annapolis round of peace negotiations.

This stratagem was then picked up by the following government of Benjamin Netanyahu who has used it to the full as a mechanism that he knows the Palestinians must reject.

The facts are that the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) recognised the State of Israel as part of the Oslo Accords in 1993, when there was no mention of Israel as a ‘Jewish state’.

This Israeli demand did not emerge during years of negotiations in the 1980s or 1990s, and it was certainly not part of either of the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan.

This is why Mahmoud Al Aloul, deputy leader of Fatah after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was right to speak out against this ludicrous demand when interviewed by Gulf News this week. He said “Fatah will never ever recognise Israel as a Jewish state because this forms a threat to the rights of the Palestinians who live within the 1948 boundaries.”

Israel has a clear choice of being a democracy or being a Jewish state. It cannot be both. More than 20 per cent of its population are Arab Palestinians, and that will not include the Druze and some Negev Bedouin who register as Israeli citizens.

This large group of citizens are not Jews and cannot have an equal life with other Israelis in a ‘Jewish state’ that must favour the Jews. But the real problem is that Israel does not want accommodation with the Palestinians.

The two-state solution has vanished under the tons of Israeli concrete poured in the many colonies all over the West Bank. This ‘Jewish state’ demand makes the one-state solution a farce, so the final outcome is continued occupation which is what the Israelis want.

It allows them to continue to squeeze the Palestinians into leaving forever, which must be resisted.