Tuesday, January 23, 2007

"Should we work to abolish Israel?"

From Haaretz:

A country in question

By Adi Schwartz


"Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its 'right to exist,' wrote Abba Eban in a November 1981 article in The New York Times. "Israel's right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved. Israel's legitimacy is not suspended in midair, awaiting acknowledgement by the Saudi royal house. Nor does the Palestine Liberation Organization have the legal status to grant recognition to any country, or to deny it recognition."

....

...Since then, the discussion of Israel's right to exist is no longer just the realm of Arab parties in conflict with Israel, and has become part of the European and American discourse. In recent years, particularly since the second intifada and the failure of the Camp David talks, one can find an increasing number of discussions like "Was it a mistake to establish a Jewish state?" or "Should we work to abolish Israel?"

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