Sir, – Regarding your editorial on the Hamas-Fatah unity agreement (April 28th), there are various points you make that I would disagree with but one in particular stands out.
You say that the Israeli government’s demand that Israel be recognised by the Palestinians as the Jewish state is “a wrecking condition” insisted upon by Mr Netanyahu, and that if this was accepted by the Palestinians it would mean them acknowledging second-class status for Israel’s Arab minority. This presupposes that Mahmoud Abbas’s determination not to recognise Israel as the Jewish state is because of some concern he has about Israeli Arabs.
As Israelis, we don’t need Mr Abbas to lecture us on the rights of our Arab citizens. In Israel, Arab citizens, who are about a quarter of the population, are fully equal in law to Jewish citizens. Arabic is Israel’s official second language. Israeli Arabs serve in the army and police, the judiciary and civil service, and they are fully part of the political system of the state. They have free speech, free press – all the attributes of a civilised democracy. They are certainly freer than any Arabs who live in the other countries of the Middle East. They are certainly better off than Arabs in the squalidly corrupt Palestinian Authority.
One should ask not why Mr Netanyahu insists on Palestinian recognition of Israel as the Jewish state but why President Abbas opposes it so much. The real reason Mr Abbas and his acolytes do not recognise Israel as the Jewish state is because that would mean the end of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and they are not ready for that, at least not yet.
Their “recognition” of Israel, therefore, is to be only temporary and tactical, so as to create an interim Palestinian state, after which further demands will be placed on Israel, including the absurd “right of return” which, it is hoped, will swamp Israel with millions of so-called refugees from around the world who can claim some Palestinian heritage. This is why Mr Abbas will not recognise Israel as the Jewish state – because he wants the Palestinian state to replace Israel, not to live in peace with it.
We have long had our suspicions about Mr Abbas’s genuine commitment to a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. Alas, his decision last week to form a unity government with the terrorist organisation Hamas – which has not changed its absolutist position on Israel – gives credence to such pessimism. Yours, etc,
BOAZ MODAI,
Ambassador of Israel,
Pembroke Road,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4