It is Time for Jerusalem to Go on the Political Offensive
Israel should become the first state to recognize Palestine. If Zion had not realized it already, then the overwhelming support for Palestinian accession to UNESCO in October 2011 should have convinced the Jewish state that it risks international isolation. This is not because the majority of nations are anti-semitic or opportunistic, but because many countries are convinced that Palestine, like Israel, has legitimate national ambitions.
Palestine will also pursue these ambitions in the General Assembly of the United Nations, and it will succeed. It has every reason to expect that it will receive the same support it did for its UNESCO membership.
The United States has responded with a veto in the UN Security Council. Germany feels deeply responsible for Israel’s security due to the Holocaust. However, it is no longer a sure thing that after the upcoming elections, the US will continue blocking Palestine’s bid for entering the United Nations. In that case, Israel would come under increasing international pressure. No country can prevail against an overwhelming majority of the community of nations for the long term.
Living side by side
It is time for Israel to go on the political and diplomatic offensive. Prime Minister Netanyahu should take a cue from his own statements. On June 14th, 2009, he explained his “Vision of Peace” at Bar Ilan University. “There are two free peoples living side by side in this small land, with good neighborly relations and mutual respect, each with its own flag, its own anthem and its own government…” That can only mean two states, Israel and Palestine. Thus far, Netanyahu has not succeeded in realizing his vision of peace. This is partly because the Palestinian Authority refuses to negotiate directly with Zion on account of Israeli settlement activity. However, it is also because Foreign Minister Lieberman and his party strictly reject statehood for Palestine.
Time for Peace
Israel derives its legitimacy from, among other things, the Partition Plan adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 29th, 1947. With this resolution, the family of nations called for the creation of a Jewish state and an Arab Palestine. The Zionists, later Israel, accepted the resolution, while the Arab side answered by declaring a war that they then lost.
“The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” Israel’s longtime Foreign Minister Abba Eban once quipped. Now, Israel is at risk of doing the same thing. This veto-posture against Palestinian statehood cannot be upheld. By recognizing Palestine, Zion would establish a position on the offensive. Instead of resisting an oppressive majority almost entirely on its own, Israel could demand understanding for its legitimate interests. It could win acceptance as a Jewish state without occupied territories and demand secure and internationally recognized borders to be determined in direct negotiations with the Palestinians.
That would still leave a number of contentious questions unanswered. These would include the status of Jerusalem and the situation of Palestinian refugees, but likewise that of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven.” Now is the “time for peace.” The upheavals in the Arab world only make it all the more urgent. Radical Islamist forces hostile to Israel are gaining followers, and not just in Egypt. Jerusalem must seize the political initiative. The Jewish state cannot miss this opportunity without risking its own existence.