Here is a statement you will not hear today from Jerusalem: “I wish to declare that the government of Israel will not ask any nation, be it near or far, mighty or small, to recognize our right to exist.”
But it is a statement that was made in June 1977 by then-prime minister Menachem Begin. A sentimental nationalist of the highest order, Begin was nevertheless able to identify the only kind of recognition that Israel should require: “I re-emphasize that we do not expect anyone to request, on our behalf, that our right to exist in the land of our fathers, be recognized. It is a different recognition which is required between us and our neighbors: recognition of sovereignty and of the mutual need for a life of peace and understanding.”
A Recognition Israel Doesn’t Need
by YONATAN TOUVAL
P.S. In quoting Begin as if to counterpoint Israe's current policy to demand that Israel as a Jewish state be recognized, Touval is, of course, mixing his metaphors. There is a difference between Begin's approach and the current Palestinain Authority's stand not to recognize Israel as the Jewish state.
