‘De facto’
US: Peace framework will recognize Israel as Jewish state | The Times of Israel
This report must surely be filed under the ‘I’ll believe that when I see it happen’ category.
No way can the Palestinian Authority recognise Israel as a Jewish state, at least not without some quite remarkable quid-pro-quo to seal the bargain. Making every Palestinian a dollar millionaire as compensation might very well do it. There again, it might not. Granting access and ownership to a land mass of more or less equal size and fertility to that of Israel proper could present sufficient inducement but, somehow, even if it were possible, this would probably not pan out in the long run.
And yet there have always been majorities on both sides who would wish for some realistic settlement to so long-standing a dispute, a conflict of such intensity that it has claimed the lives of tens of thousands and is likely to account for many more if it continues unchecked and unresolved for very much longer.
If Israel were to be recognised as a Jewish state by all its neighbours and the rest of the world, could this ever be accomplished without waves of condemnation and general stupefaction in the Arab world, not to mention a not inconsiderable number of places elsewhere?
I guess it all depends on just how one would go about the process.
Here a ‘de facto’ recognition of the Jewish state could so easily become a reality and be validated as such by the rest of humankind. Or, more likely, it would facilitate a kind of ‘de facto’ peace in a region where that commodity has always been in short supply, certainly for at least every one of the past seven decades.
And from a ‘de facto’ peace can emerge a ‘de jure’ one if subsequent matters are handled with a modicum of care and attention.