They Say, We Say: "Why is the demand that Israel be recognized “as a Jewish state” a problem for the Palestinians?"

by admin_as_editor 04/04/14

They Say We Say We know that pro-Israel does not mean blindly supporting policies that are irrational, reckless, and counter-productive. Pro-Israel means supporting policies that are consistent with Israel's interests and promote its survival as a Jewish, democratic state.

You've heard the arguments of the religious and political right-wing, and so have we. They've had their say. Now, we'll have ours.

Go HERE for all installments of APN's "They Say, We Say"

Is Peace Possible?

They Say:

Why is the demand that Israel be recognized “as a Jewish state” a problem for the Palestinians? Isn’t their rejection of this Israeli demand proof they aren’t really interested in peace and don’t accept Israel?

We Say:

For Palestinians, rejection of the “recognition-plus” demand – as that demand has thus far been articulated – is a function of their own historical and political narrative. According to this narrative, they are an indigenous people living for generations in the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, only to be unjustly expelled or occupied as the result of the creation of Israel and subsequent disastrous wars. Israeli insistence that the Palestinians adopt the Israeli-dictated formula of “the Jewish state of Israel” or similar wording is thus understood by many Palestinians as effectively requiring them to renounce their national narrative and accept the delegitimization of their own history, suffering, and grievances. It is viewed as asking them to recognize, in essence, prior Jewish claims that erase their own rights, both in terms of lands lost and as refugees. Moreover, this demand is seen by many – on both sides of the Green Line – as requiring Palestinian President Abbas to “sell out” the more than one million Palestinians who are citizens of Israel, sabotaging their own efforts to play an effective role in influencing the future character of the state of Israel and break down the barriers to equality inside Israel.

They Say, We Say: "Why do Israelis and many supporters of Israel insist that Israel should be recognized as a Jewish state?"

by admin_as_editor 04/04/14

You've heard the arguments of the religious and political right-wing, and so have we. They've had their say. Now, we'll have ours.

Go HERE for all installments of APN's "They Say, We Say"

Is Peace Possible?

They Say:

Why do Israelis and many supporters or Israel insist that Israel should be recognized as a Jewish state? Are all of them cynically adopting this position to try to prevent a peace agreement? [An argument coming from the Left, as opposed to the Right]

We Say:

There is little doubt that the reasons behind the introduction of the “recognition-plus” demand into the political debate were cynical, seeking to create a new obstacle to peace. That said, for many Israelis, the “recognition-plus” demand has taken root not because they are looking for an excuse not to make peace. It has taken root, at least in part, because it taps into two popular Israeli sentiments that relate to peace with their neighbors. One is the longing of Israelis to not simply be tolerated in the Middle East, but to be embraced, in the region and the world, as a legitimate, indigenous nation, consistent with Israel’s founding Zionist narrative of the return of the Jews to their historic homeland. The other is the Israeli anxiety that even after a peace agreement, Palestinians will not be content with a state in the West Bank and Gaza, but will continue fighting to “liberate” all of Palestine, which they believe belongs to them and not Israel.

They Say, We Say: "How can Israel be expected to negotiate with the Palestinians if the Palestinian leaders refuse to recognize Israel as Jewish state?"

by admin_as_editor 04/04/14

You've heard the arguments of the religious and political right-wing, and so have we. They've had their say. Now, we'll have ours.

Go HERE for all installments of APN's "They Say, We Say"

Is Peace Possible?

They Say:

How can Israel be expected to negotiate with the Palestinians if the Palestinian leaders refuse to recognize Israel as Jewish state?

We Say:

The demand that the Palestinians not only recognize Israel - something they have done repeatedly, starting in 1993 - but that they recognize Israel as “a Jewish state,” or some similar wording, is relatively new. No such demand was made of Egypt or Jordan, nor was it mentioned in the Oslo agreement or subsequent Israeli-Palestinian documents. It made a brief appearance in the Annapolis talks of 2007, but only as a marginal issue. Only in 2009 did it truly come into play, courtesy of Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s decision to introduce the issue into the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating dynamic seemed to be a cynical one. It seems to have been intended to hinder the negotiations rather than to advance them. Netanyahu was faced with a U.S. president determined to forge ahead with peace and a Palestinian president who embraced the two-state solution, rejected violence, and was actively cooperating to fight terrorism. This left Netanyahu scrambling for a pretext to argue that Israel had no Palestinian partner for peace, as cover for his own anti-peace, pro-settlement policies. Thus was born the “recognition-plus” demand, which today is accepted by many Israelis and supporters of Israel as a condition for any peace agreement, and even as a precondition for continuing to sit at the negotiating table with the Palestinians.

The Palestinians & the UN

by admin_as_editor 04/04/14

“The decision of the Palestinians to take their case to the UN reflects, first and foremost, the loss of credibility of the current peace process and their understandable conviction that as things stand today, negotiations will never end the occupation or deliver statehood. Palestinian leaders, like leaders anywhere, need to address the concerns of their people and provide them a tangible path forward. Their decision to take their case to the UN also reflects the recognition that the situation is nearing a tipping point - the point at which developments on the ground in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in particular expansion of settlements and settlement-related infrastructure, will make the two-state solution unworkable.” (from APN Policy Statement, 7/28/11)

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APN resources on the Palestinians at the UN

1/27/15: APN Statement on Palestinians' International Criminal Court (ICC) Membership and Activity

Lara Friedman analysis/commentary 1/5/14: US Law & Abbas' Post-UNSC Moves - An Explainer

APN Press Release, 12/30/14: APN to Obama: Don't Block UNSC Resolution on Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

APN Press Release, 12/24/14: APN to Obama, Kerry: Now is the Time for UNSC Pro-Peace Resolution

APN's Lara Friedman, The Forward, 12/23/14: Stop Babying Israel at the U.N. Security Council.

Lara Friedman analysis/commentary 12/19/14: Calling Out Israeli Rejectionism at the UN .

APN Press Release, 12/15/14: APN to Obama Administration: Support Constructive Action at the UN Security Council to Promote Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

APN Legislative Round-Up: April 4, 2014: Item 2: Palestinians, the UN, and Congress

APN Press Release, 11/27/12: APN Calls on Obama Administration to Support Palestinian UN Initiative

Peace Now (Shalom Achshav), 11/27/12: Israel Should Welcome UN Vote on Palestinian Initiative

Lara Friedman, the Daily Beast/Open Zion, 11/14/12: Round Two At Turtle Bay

APN Legislative Round-Up 11/4/11: Item 3: UNESCO, UNESCO, UNESCO

Lara Friedman analysis/commentary 11/3/11: Hijacked by Legislative Anachronisms

APN Action Alert 11/3/11: Tell Congress to act rationally on UN and the Palestinians

Lara Friedman, Huffington Post, 10/28/11: UNESCO, Congress, U.S. Law, and the Palestinians: The Facts

APN Press Release, 9/23/11: UN Speeches Underscore Need for Leadership to End Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

APN Briefing Call, 9/14/11 (AUDIO): "Que Vadis Palestine"? With Ambassador Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations

APN Statement, 9/12/11: APN Statement on Looming Crisis at the UN and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

APN Policy Statement, 7/28/11: APN Principles on the Palestinians, International Recognition & the UN

Lara Friedman, ForeignPolicy.com, 7/19/11: No choice but the UN for Palestinians

They Say, We Say: "Why shouldn’t Israel be able to build in areas that everyone – including the Palestinians - knows Israel will keep in any future peace agreement?"

by admin_as_editor 04/04/14

You've heard the arguments of the religious and political right-wing, and so have we. They've had their say. Now, we'll have ours.

Go HERE for all installments of APN's "They Say, We Say"

Are settlements really a problem?

They Say:

Why shouldn’t Israel be able to build in settlement blocs? These are areas that everyone – including the Palestinians - knows Israel will keep in any future peace agreement? Opposing construction in the blocs transforms a non-issue into an excuse for Palestinian intransigence and for people to unfairly criticize Israel.

We Say:

Construction inside the settlement “blocs” isn’t a non-issue. When Israeli and Palestinian negotiators start talking seriously about settlements, they won’t be spending a lot of time debating the future of isolated settlements, because these settlements would unquestionably have to be removed under a peace agreement. The real negotiations, the very difficult ones, will actually be over the so-called “settlement blocs”: their size and contours, the way they will be connected to Israel, and the land swaps that will be used to offset them. This is why settlement expansion in these areas is equally if not more harmful to the two-state solution than construction in the isolated settlements.

Given the facts on the ground today, reaching agreement on these blocs will already be challenging. Expansion of these blocs – of the settlements in them and of the blocs themselves (both to include outlying settlements and to create new blocs, like the “Beit El bloc” that has recently been raised in pro-settlement talking points) – threatens to make the issue even harder, if not impossible, to resolve. And notably, the blocs – which are actually large land enclaves – include not only settlements but also large numbers of Palestinians in adjacent villages.

APN Legislative Round-Up: April 4, 2014

by admin_as_editor 04/04/14

1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. Palestinians, the UN, and Congress
3. Hearings
4. Members on the Record
5. Odds & Ends

March 30-31, 2014: Lara Friedman at Brandeis and Boston University

by admin_as_editor 04/01/14

On March 30th, APN's Lara Friedman (Director of Policy and Government Relations) was hosted by Brandeis University for an event entitled "Peace Now or Never?: Dinner & Discussion with Lara Friedman." The discussion was centered around US foreign policy in the Middle East, Israeli settlements, and the issue of Jerusalem in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli-Palestinian Mutual Recognition

by admin_as_editor 04/01/14

“By now everyone has realized that there’s a new issue on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations agenda that’s not going away: The demand that the Palestinians not only recognize Israel - something they have done repeatedly, starting in 1993 - but that they recognize Israel as "a Jewish state," or some similar wording. No such “recognition-plus” demand was made of Egypt or Jordan, nor was it mentioned in the Oslo agreement or subsequent Israeli-Palestinian documents. It made a brief appearance in the Annapolis talks of 2007, but only as a marginal issue. Only In 2009 did it truly come into play, courtesy of Benjamin Netanyahu...”

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APN resources:

Lara Friedman, Haaretz, March 31, 2014: What Israeli Palestinian mutual recognition really means

Lara Friedman, APN Blog, April 19, 2009: The Demand for "Recognition-Plus" -- Bibi's New Pretext for Not Pursuing Peace

APN Legislative Round-Up: March 14-28, 2014

by admin_as_editor 03/28/14

1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters

2. Hearings

3. Members on the Record

4. Odds & Ends

APN's Rabbi Alana Suskin in The Washington Jewish Week: Delay no longer possible in the struggle for peace

by admin_as_editor 03/20/14

The Book of Vayikra (Leviticus), which we recently began, focuses on ritual matters, primarily, the details of offerings, including burnt offerings, sin offerings (separate ones to atone for deliberate transgressions and inadvertent failings) and guilt offerings … and what is usually translated as the “peace” offering.

Now, the “peace offering,” of course, doesn’t have to do with a cessation of hostilities, but comes from the root shin-lamed-mem, which denotes both shalom — peace — and shlemut, a character of wholeness. Wholeness is especially relevant to us in these times, when a moment of hope for the other kind of peace presents on the horizon a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians.

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They Say, We Say: "Why is the demand that Israel be recognized “as a Jewish state” a problem for the Palestinians?"

Is Peace Possible?

They Say, We Say: "Why do Israelis and many supporters of Israel insist that Israel should be recognized as a Jewish state?"

Is Peace Possible?

They Say, We Say: "How can Israel be expected to negotiate with the Palestinians if the Palestinian leaders refuse to recognize Israel as Jewish state?"

Is Peace Possible?

The Palestinians & the UN

They Say, We Say: "Why shouldn’t Israel be able to build in areas that everyone – including the Palestinians - knows Israel will keep in any future peace agreement?"

Are settlements really a problem?

APN Legislative Round-Up: April 4, 2014

March 30-31, 2014: Lara Friedman at Brandeis and Boston University

Israeli-Palestinian Mutual Recognition

APN resources:

Other recommended reading:

APN Legislative Round-Up: March 14-28, 2014

APN's Rabbi Alana Suskin in The Washington Jewish Week: Delay no longer possible in the struggle for peace

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