The Palestinians are not entirely at fault for failing to properly understand what is being demanded. And to a large extent the Israeli demand is indeed a quite transparent attempt to pre-emptively remove the most contentious issue on the negotiating agenda - the refugee problem. Former Israeli chief negotiator and Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, issued a similar demand to the Palestinians prior to the Annapolis summit in November 2007. One of the reasons why there was no joint statement (other than the one read by President Bush) was Livni's demand to the Palestinians that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The question of the Jewishness of Israel is one that is quite complex and misunderstood. By calling Israel a "Jewish State" as it is referred to in Israel's Declaration of Independence and in UN Resolution 181 which partitioned Palestine into two states "one Jew and one Arab" does not define if Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people or a state with a state religion which defines its essence. Netanyahu has, on the other hand, used the expression "the state of the Jewish people" or even "the nation-state of the Jewish people".
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Tue, 3 November 2009
In the first segment of the show, I talk with Gershon Baskin, founder of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI). Baskin spoke recently at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas on the topic "Is Peace in the Middle East Possible?" Founded in Jerusalem in 1988, IPCRI is the only joint Israeli-Palestinian public policy think-tank in the world, and is devoted to developing practical solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the second half of the show we hear from filmmakers Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys on their documentary The Good Soldier. The film is the subject of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS November 6, 2009, and features 5 soldiers from World War II to Iraq, including past Tell Somebody guest Edward Wood. Tom Klammer www.tellsomebody.us send email to mail@tellsomebody.us right-click on the .mp3 filename below to save this show to your computer. Direct download: tellsomebody091103.mp3 Comments[0] |


















Javier Solana Photo: Reuters


