Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Can Israel Be A “Jewish State?”

http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2011/07/14/can-israel-be-a-jewish-state/
Can Israel Be A “Jewish State?”
by Elliott Abrams
Negotiations between Israel and the PLO have been stalled for many
reasons, but a central issue is the Palestinian refusal to acknowledge
Israel as a “Jewish state.”
The whole idea behind the partition of the Palestine Mandate in 1947
was, in the words of U.N. General Assembly resolution 181, the
creation of an “Arab state” and a “Jewish state.” The Arab rejection
of Israel as a Jewish state is in fact at the heart of the Middle East
conflict. It is based on the widespread refusal to accept Israel as a
permanent presence in the region, but is usually couched in more
acceptable terminology—indeed, the language of “rights.” As one news
story put it, “Palestinian negotiators have recognized Israel’s right
to exist, but not as a Jewish state, which officials say would
prejudice the right of return for refugees and violate the rights of
Israel’s non-Jewish residents.”
In other words, the argument is that if Israel is a “Jewish state” it
will certainly, unavoidably, necessarily discriminate against non-
Jews. The problem with this debating point is that those who use it
apply it only to Israel; no one ever voices any concern about states
based on Islam and discriminating in favor of Muslims.
There are actually four states whose very name contains a religious
reference: the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic
of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and the Islamic Republic of
Mauritania. But beyond those, in every Muslim-majority country the
constitution asserts a special role for Islam. The Jordanian
constitution says “Islam is the religion of the State” and of course
“No person shall ascend the Throne unless he is a Moslem…of Moslem
parents.” No converts! But Jordan has a Christian minority that is
five to eight percent of the population (Eastern Orthodox, Circassian,
Melkite, and other sects).
Egypt is about ten or even fifteen percent Christian (Copts), but its
current provisional constitution states that “Islam is the religion of
the state….Principles of Islamic law (Shari’a) are the principal
source of legislation.” Moreover, this is unlikely to change:
presidential candidate Mohammad ElBaradei, viewed as a Westernized
moderate, recently released his version of a new Egyptian constitution
that similarly holds “Islam shall be the religion of the state….Sharia
shall be the main source of legislation.”
The constitution of Malaysia states that “Islam is the religion of the
Federation,” even though the country is only about sixty percent
Muslim. It is roughly twenty percent Buddhist, ten percent Christian,
and six percent Hindu, among other religions.
There are many similar examples. The religion of the state is Islam in
Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait (where there are estimates that fifteen
percent of the population is non-Muslim)—and one could lengthen the
list. In Afghanistan, the constitution holds that “The sacred religion
of Islam is the religion of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” and
“No law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy
religion of Islam in Afghanistan.” The president must be a Muslim. The
Saudis go one further, refusing even to have a constitution: “The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam
as its religion; God’s Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet, God’s
prayers and peace be upon him, are its constitution….”
It is worth adding that Muslim states are not alone in their religious
ties. The constitution of Denmark, for example, states that “The
Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the Established Church of
Denmark, and, as such, it shall be supported by the State,” and
unsurprisingly “The King shall be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church.” Same for Norway: “The Evangelical-Lutheran religion shall
remain the official religion of the State” and “The King shall at all
times profess the Evangelical-Lutheran religion.” And of course, the
Queen of England is “Defender of the Faith,” and the faith is Anglican
Christianity.
So what? So the usual arguments against the acknowledgement of Israel
as a Jewish state are hypocritical and specious. Every Arab state is
far more Islamic than the “Jewish state” of Israel is Jewish; to take
one example, Israel imposes no religious test for the offices of
president or prime minister. Moreover, the treatment of religious
minorities is far better than in the Muslim states, as the flat ban on
building even a single church in Saudi Arabia and the repeated
violence against Christians in Egypt and Pakistan remind us. If some
secular professor maintains that all states should be devoid of
religious identity, fair enough; that is a principled argument. But
when Arab political leaders say they will never acknowledge Israel as
a Jewish state, that isn’t an argument at all. It is a reminder of
their continuing refusal to make peace with the Jewish state and with
the very idea that the Jews can have a state in what they view as the
Dar al-Islam.

 Can Israel Be A “Jewish State?”
non può, è. E non deve chiedere a nessuno di riconoscerlo in quanto
tale