|
World Jewish News
Israel: PA recognition of Jewish state 'crucial' for reconciliation
27.04.2009
The Foreign Ministry said Monday that Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state was 'crucial' for reconciliation between the two sides after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Israeli calls to do so.
"Recognition of Israel as the sovereign state of the Jewish people is an essential and necessary step in the historic reconciliation process between Israel and the Palestinians," the ministry said in a statement.
"The sooner the Palestinians internalize this basic and essential fact, peace between the two peoples will progress and come to fruition."
Abbas made his comments on the issue, which emerging as a main obstacle to peacemaking, in a speech earlier in the day.
"I do not accept it," the Western-backed Abbas said. "It is not my job to give a description of the state. Name yourself the Hebrew Socialist Republic - it is none of my business."
Netanyahu said in a statement last week it would be impossible to make progress on the diplomatic track and reach a peace agreement without Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
But the prime minister said he had not made such recognition a precondition for opening peace negotiations. Netanyahu has shied away from endorsing the creation of a Palestinian state, a main goal of U.S.-backed peace talks that are currently frozen.
Palestinians fear recognition of Israel as a Jewish state could help Israeli leaders resist any return of Palestinian refugees.
Those concerns were heightened five years ago after then-U.S. President George W. Bush described Israel as a Jewish state in a letter to its prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon, and suggested Palestinian refugees be settled in a future Palestine rather than in Israel.
Netanyahu and Abbas plan to make separate visits to Washington next month for their first meetings with Barack Obama since he became president in January.
Obama's administration has said it would vigorously pursue Palestinian statehood, setting the stage for possible conflict with Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has pledged to hold talks with the Palestinians on economic, security and diplomatic issues. Palestinian leaders have rejected any notion of an "economic peace" and said talks with Israel could not resume until he committed to statehood.
"If you do not want the two-state solution, then what do you accept?" Abbas asked in his speech.
"We want a state on the 1967 borders, not a centimeter more, not a centimeter less," he said, referring to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, areas that Israel captured in the Six Day War of that year.
Abbas' comments drew mixed responses in Israel.
"This is more evidence that the Palestinians are not interested in true peace with Israel, said MK Ofir Akunis, a lawmaker in Netanyahu's Likud Party.
Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi, however, called Abbas' comments logical and correct. "Recognition between countries doesn't include recognition of their characters, but of their right to exist, independence and their borders."
Netanyahu, who is formulating a Middle East policy plan for presentation to Obama, has said any Palestinian entity must have limited powers of sovereignty and not pose a danger to Israel's security.
By Yoav Stern and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
Источник: Haaretz
|
|
