Israel-Palestine Analysis: The Palestinian Move for Recognition and Borders

The Palestinian Authority's response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest offer --- an extension of the freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank in return for the Palestinian Authority's recognition of Israel as a Jewish state --- has been far from welcoming.

Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the Palestinians will never offer "Jewish state" recognition. Senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official Yasser Abed Rabbo accused Netanyahu of using the proposal to weaken the image of US President Barack Obama in the Middle East.

On Wednesday, both the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation tried a new tactic: if Israel is setting conditions, then it must commit itself to a Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders. Rabbo spoke to Haaretz:

We would like to be provided a draft of a map of the State of Israel that they would like us to recognize. If the map is based on the 1967 borders and includes our lands and our homes and East Jerusalem, we will be prepared to recognize Israel within about an hour in accordance with the administration's formula.

Rabbo linked this to the Netanyahu offer of freeze for recognition:

It's important from our standpoint that we know where the borders of Israel are, and where the borders of Palestine are. Any formula that the Americans present, even if they call the State of Israel 'the Chinese state,' we would agree to, just as long as they give us the '67 borders. We have already recognized Israel in the past, but it has not recognized the Palestinian state.

Officials in Ramallah also called on the US to expedite the negotiations with Israel. According to YNet's sources, the negotiation teams will meet soon to discuss a framework for talks on a permanent agreement. 

Ramallah's latest strategy? First, it is trying to ease the pressure, especially after Washington's support for Netanyahu's latest offer. The PA, with the highlighting of a state based on pre-1967 borders, is putting the ball back to West Jerusalem's court. Are Israeli officials ready to make that fundamental commitment? If they do not, then the blame for scuttling the talks can be placed on Israel rather than the Palestinians.  

The PA is also trying to meet the challenge of Netanyahu and other Israeli officials over security and  Israel's right to exist. The message is that recognition could easily be assured if Palestine gets its own recognition of statehood with defined borders. As Rabbo said, responding to the "Jewish state" issue, if there is such an agreement, it does not matter how Israel is labeled.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev hinted that the matter could be negotiated. He said that Israel's insistence on maintaining a presence on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state could be reviewed over time.

Still, that is the easiest matter for the Israelis to address. Acceptance of an international force or even Palestinian forces in the Jordan Valley does not get to the issues of the core of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the holy sites.

And there is also tension within the Palestinian camp, as the Fatah party of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas criticised Rabbo. “The statements made by Abed Rabbo regarding the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state don’t represent the position of Fatah or the Palestinian people,” said Amin Maqboul, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council. “Abed Rabbo represents only himself.”

As for Washington, all these issues are secondary to just getting the Israelis and Palestinians to sit down at the negotiating table. Assistant Secretary of State P. J. Crowley's daily press briefing on Wednesday made this clear:

QUESTION: On the peace process, yesterday, you asked the Palestinian Authority to put proposals or offers on the table. Today, Yasser Abed Rabbo has came with this proposal asking the U.S. Administration and the Israeli Government to provide a map of the borders of the state of Israel which they want us to recognize, as Abed Rabbo has said. What is your reaction?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, first of all, I think what we are seeing does represent the interest in the parties in continuing this effort. This is exactly the right conversation that the Israelis and Palestinians need to have to be exchanging ideas on how to advance this process to a successful conclusion. But it also is a reminder of the limitation of making offers and counteroffers by long distance and through the media as opposed to sitting down face-to-face in a direct negotiation.

So this underscores exactly why we feel it is imperative for the Israelis and Palestinians to stay committed to direct negotiations. So they’re having exactly the right conversation. The only difference is this conversation has to take place face-to-face where eventually they can address both the core issues and the derivatives in pursuit of mutually recognized states and security for all.

So this underscores why we believe it’s vitally important for both sides to do everything possible to stay in these negotiations, and in fact, to move to a point where we can once again have them sit down face-to-face and get into a direct discussion about these central issues.

QUESTION: Do you have any map that you can provide to the Palestinian Authority?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, what they’re asking for is the essence of the negotiation – what are the borders of a future Palestinian state, and conversely, what will be the borders of the Israeli state. This is a core issue and this is something that only a direct negotiation can resolve. So it is perfectly legitimate for the Palestinians to say, “What will the shape of a future Palestinian state be?” But again, to resolve this question and to move forward, the direct negotiations have to continue.