Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
Weekly Commentary
01 April '10
The most generous interpretation of the position of the Arab League is that if Israel meets all Arab demands that the member states would recognize Israel's existence at that point in time but not its right to survive.
There is a critical difference between recognizing Israel's temporary existence and its right to survive.
The former is no more than a form of the traditional "hudna". A temporary ceasefire until such time that conditions make possible the defeat of the enemy
The 28 March Arab League Sirte Declaration rejecting the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is a rejection of Israel's right to survive.
The Arab states should have no problem with the idea that a country is associated with a religion. After all, the constitutions of the member states in the Arab League all explicitly state that Islam is their official state religion - as is also the case with the draft Palestinian constitution.
But when the Arabs - including the Israeli Arabs - oppose Israel's designation as being a "Jewish State" the issue goes far beyond Judaism being reflected in Israel's national calendar and other facets of the State. The core feature of Israel as a Jewish State that they find unacceptable is that Jews around the world have the right to immigrate to Israeli and become citizens.
If the Arabs recognized Israel's right to survive then it would not be so critical to them to want to stop Jewish immigration.
Instead they press for an end to Jewish immigration along with the right of Arabs with family ties to Israel to flood the country.
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The Arabs want to see Israel disappear and they don't care how long it takes to make that happen. They see Israeli society as weak, divided and tired and ready to make peace at any price. On the other hand, they are strong, united and determined. They have no interest in peace with Israel. As long Israel continues to make all the concessions and they give nothing, the Jewish State will disappear of its own internal contradictions. The Crusader kingdoms in Eretz Israel after all, lasted less than two centuries. The Jews have been back in their own land for a only a fraction of that period of time.
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