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Time for a Change in U.S. Mideast Strategy

(New York Jewish Week) Kenneth J. Bialkin - Why has there been no progress in the Mideast peace process? The time has come to recognize that there has always been an unspoken issue that might be described as the "elephant" in the room: that Arab countries have never recognized Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. Since the 1967 Arab declaration in Khartoum of "No Recognition, No Negotiation and No Peace," neither the UN nor even the U.S. has ever demanded unequivocal acceptance by the Arabs to recognize and live in peace with Israel. The U.S. has never insisted that recognition and acceptance of Israel's right to exist be advanced as an independent demand, as it has done, for example, with demands on Israel to freeze settlements in advance of conclusion of an end of conflict. A peace process that rests on Israel's unilateral concessions is doomed to fail unless and until the world also demands that the Arab world recognizes that the conflict can be resolved only if and when Israel's legitimacy and sovereignty is openly recognized and accepted. The Arab world must come to recognize that the Jewish claim for a state and for land and recognition did not begin in the 20th century and is not simply compensation for the suffering of the Holocaust. The Jewish claim for land and recognition derives from biblical days. Israel has shown a willingness for major concessions under circumstances of a full peace. It has also shown a resolute unwillingness for such concessions in the absence of real peace. Israel's experience with concessions has not been good. The writer is former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
2010-02-12 07:46:41
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