Otherwise Occupied / The slippery slope of recognizing Israel as the Jewish state
Otherwise Occupied / The slippery slope of recognizing Israel as the Jewish state The demand to recognize Israel's Jewish character has never before been included in peace talks, says a former Palestinian negotiator. So why is it now a major issue ? By Amira Hass | Jan. 20, 2014 | 12:20 PM | 1 Benjamin Netanyahu sold John Kerry a bill of goods and the American swallowed it. Granted, this wasn’t the wording selected by Nabil Shaath,Fatah’s commissioner for external relations, who explained why he thinks the U.S. secretary of state believed he had no choice but to swallow . Kerry, said Shaath (amid much praise for the secretary’s integrity and intelligence), as a representative of the world’s biggest superpower, isn’t just thinking about justice and viability. “He is thinking about feasibility – about what he can do with the tools he has to get the Israelis to move towards peace,” said Shaath . Speaking with members of the foreign press last Thursday, Shaath said,