NOVANEWS |
||||
By Akiva Eldar | ||||
In a moment of candor, Ehud Barak once said: “If I were a Palestinian of the right age, I would join, at some point, one of the terrorist groups.” If I were a Palestinian, of any age, I would declare an all-out war on all terrorist groups and fulfill the demand of the Jews to recognize the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. Furthermore, as a present on the birthday of the Jewish people, as it completes 61 years of existence, I would announce that I also respect its Declaration of Independence of May 14, 1948. I would do this on the condition that all the state’s principles, to the last one, apply to the territories controlled by the Jewish state – to every last foot of territory. A sovereign state that demands another people recognize its national identity cannot get away with not presenting a map on which it defines its self-determination. The solution of two states for two peoples has little value so long as it is not accompanied by an agreement, even in principle, on the location of the border that will separate the two. Alas, the Jewish prime minister now demanding the Palestinians recognize the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people has erased that border in one fell swoop. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed his Czech counterpart, Mirek Topolanek, that “if Israelis can’t build homes in the West Bank, then Palestinians shouldn’t be allowed to either.” According to the principle of reciprocity, which has always been dear to Netanyahu, all Palestinians, like all Jews, are welcome to build their homes from now on anywhere between the sea and the Jordan River. This principle requires an update of the term “state lands,” which the Israeli occupation dictionary has translated into “lands of the State of Israel” and the political lexicon has transformed into “Jewish settlements.” Were I a Palestinian, I would therefore demand that the tenders for land allotments in the entire West Bank and East Jerusalem also be open to me. |