Jerusalem, Israel Benjamin Peim – Demands by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state have sparked reflections among Israelis over their own self identity.
Washington did not appear to suffer such soul searching and State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the Obama administration supported this Israeli demand.
“We have recognized the special nature of the Israeli state,” Crowley said at a press conference. “It is a state for the Jewish people.”
But Crowley added that it was, “a state for other citizens of other faiths, as well.”
Yet in Israel, citizens themselves could not form a consensus as to the definition of a Jewish state.
“It’s very complex, and I don’t have an answer,” said Noa Amiel, 39, of Jerusalem. “Someone can immigrate to Israel who has one Jewish grandfather, but according to Halacha (Jewish religious law), he is not a Jew.”
“I don’t have a definition,” said Morris Brody, 56, a factory worker from Kibbutz Na’an. “I’m Jewish but I’m okay if other people come here and live here, too.”
Security guard Daniel Adika, 22, was less equivocal.
“A Jewish state, in my definition, is a country that has a Jewish government, but of course will respect all other people who live here because we’re a democratic country,” Adika said.
Palestinians have rejected Netanyahu’s demand, and say they see no reason why they should be the ones who have to brand Israel with an identity.
“Look, as every knows, Israel has a double identity,” said Qadura Fares, chairman of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, referring to Israel being both Jewish and democratic.
“They have a problem with their identity and now they’re trying to push the problem onto their neighbors,” he told The Media Line.
Fares, a former minister in the Palestinian Authority, said that the Palestinians recognize Israel in the same fashion as other countries.
“Why is this a condition for the Palestinians? Why don’t they ask France or Belgium to recognize them as a Jewish state?” he asked.
Yusuf Daher, a Palestinian from the West Bank Christian village of Beit Hanina, said Israel was taking advantage of its relative strength over the Palestinians.
“It’s blackmailing, at a time when you have a very weak part, which is the Palestinian part, and Israel has the support of the entire international community,” said Daher, 44.
Gidi Grinstein, president of the Reut Institute, a Tel Aviv-based think tank, interpreted Netanyahu’s demand as an attempt to get the Palestinians to recognize “the premise of the entire political process: two states for two peoples.”
“The Jews are a unique entity,” Grinstein told The Media Line. “We are at the same time a religion and a people. Israel is a Jewish state the same way a future Palestinian state will be a state for the Palestinian people.”
Grinstein stressed that while he saw tension between Israel being Jewish and democratic, he saw it as “healthy tension.”
“The most important thing to observe is that Israel is Jewish because it is democratic,” said Grinstein. “About 80 percent of the population is Jewish, the holidays are going to be Jewish holidays and so forth.”
Gershon Baskin, co-CEO of the Israel-Palestinian Center for Research and Information, cited the difference between a Jewish state and a state of the Jews.
“We’re not talking about a Jewish state, we’re talking about a nation state of the Jewish people,” Baskin said. “We’re not asking anyone to qualify what being Jewish means.”
But in Baskin’s view, Netanyahu should not have made the demand, which he said was first raised two years ago at the Annapolis Conference by Tzipi Livni, currently leader of the Israeli opposition.
“Once it’s on the table it’s very hard to remove it without creating damage,” Baskin said.
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