Israel Is Inherently Jewish

This sobering assessment of prospects for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestinians appeared in the New York Times during our St. John's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, during which it was impossible to walk in Jesus's footsteps without also traversing the avenues and byways of current events. The authors argued that many if not most Arabs still resist the concept of Israel as a Jewish state. This morning, Mary Peretz replies at the "New Republic":

The two-state solution is imperfect in that it won't fulfill all of the historic ambitions of the peoples in conflict. But, of course, the major impediment for the Arabs of Palestine and the Arabs outside Palestine is that Israel is and can only be a Jewish state. There is a certain insane chutzpah for the Arabs to object to the Jewish character of Israel. The fact is that its Jewish character was written into its very charter by the General Assembly 62 years ago. Indeed, the whole idea of peoplehood which informed the Wilsonian framework of the post-World War I formula for peace after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire is deeply enmeshed with Zionism.