Affirmation of Israel’s Jewishness, however, is the very foundation of peace, its DNA. Just as Israel recognizes the existence of a Palestinian people with an inalienable right to self-determination in its homeland, so, too, must the Palestinians accede to the Jewish people’s 3,000-year connection to our homeland and our right to sovereignty there. This mutual acceptance is essential if both peoples are to live side by side in two states in genuine and lasting peace.I get the impression though, that it will take a lot more than an op-ed in the New York Times to get the point across.
In Why Recognize Israel’s Jewishness?, the Lebanese blog, Beirutspring.com, doesn't get it:
No matter how you spin this, no matter how much you try to explain the difference between “Jewish faith” and “Jewish people”, I can’t get myself to find the above paragraph convincing. I try, but I don’t get it. In the future, if there are more Arabs than Israelis in Israel, and Jewish people become a minority, how can you justify the jewishness of Israel without completely destroying its democratic credentials? Wouldn’t that become an Apartheid state?He seems to be a fairly open-minded kind of guy--so what is the problem?
Someone in the comments tries to explain:
Mustapha — I don’t get what you don’t get, so perhaps you can articulate it better? Why is a Jewish State any different than an Arab State or one with an Established Religion? Or a monarchy?To me, the parallel between Jews and Arabs should be clear. Both combine religion and ethnicity with a sense of geography as well as language and culture.
The issue is the rights of the people in the state. To become naturalised in the UK, one must swear/affirm an oath that includes “I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, her Heirs and Successors, according to law.”
As to other point regarding Jewish ethnicity vs. religion, this is what National Geographic has to say about my Y-DNA:
“Modern members of this haplogroup once again live in their highest concentrations near its ancestral birthplace in the Middle East, as well as in Arabia, North Africa, and Ethiopia. M267 is also seen in Mediterranean Europe, though at much lower frequencies.
The haplogroup also carries a strong cultural connection—many of its members with European ancestry are Jewish. More than half of all J1 samples in the Genographic database are Ashkenazi Jews, revealing a genetic connection to the Middle Eastern homeland of Judaism.”
Actually, as I recall, Bernard Lewis finds it so difficult to define what an Arab is that he settles on the definition as being someone whose native language is Arabic.
In any case, here is one more area where Israeli hasbarah has its work cut out for it, explaining why Israel is a Jewish State.
Technorati Tag: Israel and Israel As A Jewish State.
2 comments:
In his editorial, Ambassador Oren states:
"Just as Israel recognizes the existence of a Palestinian people with an inalienable right to self-determination in its homeland..."
It is disturbing that the Ambassador can so succinctly state one half of a problem that Israel has in dealing with the Arabs and yet blithely assert the other half of the problem as a "fait accompli."
I would posit the possibility that the Arabs will never recognize Israel as a Jewish State precisely because Israel has established these same Arabs as a "Palestinian people."
The "Palestinian people" is a fiction - an invention of "realpolitik."
This "people" was, as Mr. Oren so aptly points out, invented for the direct purpose, "as many Palestinians hope, to [cause] Israel’s dissolution."
This is the only reason the "Palestinian people" exist.
This is self evident as can be seen by the wavering attitude that both Israel and much of the rest of the world have adopted towards Gaza now that they are called "Hamas" (Which, ironically, means "Violence" in Hebrew). There is a subtle shift in sympathies to the Fatach Arab division in Judea and Samaria as now being the legitimate representatives of the "Palestinian people."
Mr. Oren paints a sick double negative where a fictional "State of Palestine" (focused on Death and denial) exists and the very real, and very much alive, State of Israel, does not.
When only one side to a dispute concedes, that is a surrender.
Oren was being gracious--an attribute out of place under the circumstances, yet one that Israel keeps falling back upon.
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