Palestinian reconciliation to Israel's existence

Published by The Jerusalem Post

October 21, 2014

Sir, - The vote in the British parliament ("PA calls on UK gov't to follow parliament's lead and recognize Palestinian state," October 15) is distressing but hardly surprising.

The upsurge of international opprobrium directed at Israel is a product of the Oslo Accords.

Once the idea was conceded that creating peace was chiefly a matter of addressing the lack of Palestinian statehood and not addressing the lack of Palestinian reconciliation to Israel's existence, the deck was stacked against Israel.

Western governments ended up accepting the logic implicit in dealing with the PA - that the Palestinians must be seeking just ends like statehood alongside Israel, not Israel's elimination, and that concessions from Israel were therefore the key to peace.

As long as we comport ourselves to the falsehood that Palestinian statelessness is the root of the problem we can expect the world to largely take the view not that the Palestinians won't accept peace with a Jewish state of Israel, but that Israel has not offered enough; that anti-Israel boycotts and divestment campaigns will become commonplace; that anti-Semitic activity will rise; and that parliaments like Britain's will debate recognizing "Palestine" as if that were the heart of the matter.

MORTON A. KLEIN
New York

The writer is national president of the Zionist Organization of America.