In the 70s and 80s the demand made of the PLO was simply that they recognise Israel. Now Netanyahu asks for more, that a precondition of negotiations is that Israel is recognised as a Jewish state. The suspicion is that this requirement is simply a ruse to block negotiations, because Netanyahu knows the Palestinian representatives cannot agree to it.

Veteran peace campaigner Uri Avnery this week tears into this idea:

“I AM fed up with all this nonsense about recognizing Israel as the “Jewish State”. It is based on a collection of hollow phrases and vague definitions, devoid of any real content. It serves many different purposes, almost all of them malign. ”

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