Will Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish State or not? Many opinions and demands have halted Peace Talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.
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According to the article by Avi Issacharoff, one demand of the Palestinians, stated by Senior Palestine Liberation Organization official Yasser Abed Rabbo, is that the Palestinians are willing to recognize the State of Israel in any way that it desires, if the United States presents a map of the future Palestinian state, which has to include all of the territories that were captured in 1967, including East Jerusalem. The outcome of the War of 1967, fought between Israel and neighboring states of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, was that Israel seized the Syrian Golan Heights, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip, as well as the Sinai Peninsula. In the article, Rabbo says, "We want to receive a map of the State of Israel which Israel wants us to accept." He argues that if this map which is to be produced does not include the land based on the 1967 borders, then the Palestinians will be willing to recognize Israel immediately. Rabbo argues that it is important that the Palestinians know where the borders are that will separate Palestine and Israel.
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Within the article, Rabbo makes it a point to state that the Palestinians want to make sure that map does not include their land. That is why there is such a massive struggle. Peace Talks have halted due to the fact that there were settlement constructions taking place within the borders of what the Palestinians claim is their land. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu proposed to freeze the settlement construction as long as the Palestinians recognize Israel. According to another article titled Palestinian official: PA will never recognize Israel as Jewish state, even though there has been a freeze on the construction, Palestinian negotiator Saeb says that this demand could never be accepted. His colleague Nabil Sha’ath adds that the government in Ramallah will not tolerate a “partial construction freeze” and that the freeze should be including East Jerusalem. They don’t want Israeli homes being built in their land.
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In this new article Rabbo accuses Israel’s Prime Minister of beginning to destroy the peace process by ignoring the key issues. What Rabbo is trying to say is that as long as it is a partial freeze, negotiations will be halted. The Palestinian government rejected the Prime Minister’s proposal right when he offered it. The Palestinians were sure to say that this issue of the Jewishness of the state has nothing to do with the matter." They must have felt that since it was a partial freeze, when the time came Israel could want to continue building. Netanyahu proposed and stressed that Israel is willing to make concessions and a further suspension once the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish Homeland. He feels that the Palestinians have wasted 10 months; therefore, he feels it may be a trick to avoid allowances that must be made because they are barely saying something about the settlement freeze. President Abba thinks a differently though. The Jerusalem Post says that the Palestinian leader claims that the Palestinians gave all their guarantees and fulfilled there part of the bargain, but Israel is failing to take steps toward peace.
It seems that this is a never ending argument. Neither side seems to want to budge, but by not doing so there will be no progress. The articles are very reliable because their informants are actual high-standing people within the Palestinian and Israeli governments. The writers of the articles remain objective because they do not express their views, only the officials they are interviewing.
