In "Palestinians think Trump can make a deal to restart talks" (5/3/17), the Washington Post states that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is reluctant to recognize Israel as the Jewish state "in part [emphasis added] because more than 20 percent of the Israeli population consists of Palestinian Muslims and Christians."  If the Washington Post says "in part," then there must be another part.  So what about the other part?  And why neglect mentioning it?  The main reason that Abbas won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state is that doing so would give up the Palestinians' belief that Israel is still theirs!

According to the Gatestone Institute International Policy Council, in "Palestinians: We Will Not Accept a Jewish Israel" (4/15/17), "[t]he Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is based on the argument that such a move would mean giving up the 'right of return' for millions of 'refugees' into Israel," which would effectively defeat Israel due to demographics.  The article provides another reason for the refusal in that it "is also based on the continued denial of any historic Jewish connection to the land."  This denial is also used by the Palestinians in their attempt to defeat Israel by denying their right to be there in the first place.

There is no evidence based on a literature search backing up the Post's claim of why Abbas is reluctant to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and it is curious why the Post would rush to build a defense for the Palestinian position other than favoritism – or, more aptly put, bias.  The main reason why Israel has such a large minority population compared to area Arab countries is because of the forcing out of non-Arabs from Arab countries, not for any other reason.  Israel treats its minorities better than any country in the Middle East.  What does having a larger group of minorities have to do with whether Israel is recognized as a Jewish state?

The Gatestone article clarifies that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas actually "has consistently failed to state his reasons for his total rejection of Israel as a Jewish state." In January 2014, the PA president declared: "The Palestinians won't recognize the Jewishness of the State of Israel and won't accept  it. The Israelis say that if we don't recognize the Jewishness of Israel there would be no solution. And we say that we won't recognize or accept the Jewishness of Israel and we have many reasons for this rejection."  Further, "[o]n another occasion that same year, Abbas stated: 'No one can force us to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. If they [Israel] want, they can go to the UN and ask to change their name to whatever they want -- even if they want to be called The Jewish Zionist State.' Again, Abbas failed to explain the vehement Palestinian opposition to this demand."

Palestinian president Abbas can't seem to tell the truth on anything.  In his address to President Trump, Abbas stated, "Mr. President, I affirm to you that we are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace."  There is an entire website dedicated to accumulating recorded videos of state-run Palestinian Authority television inflaming viewers toward Jew-hatred and Israeli-hatred.  Squares and schools are named after suicide bombers.  Children are taught in school to hate Jews.  Maps of Israel say "Occupied Palestine."

The Palestinian denial of Israel as a Jewish state is part of their strategy to win all of Israel.  What aspiring country has as a chief sticking point in negotiating for a land of its own the ability to flood its next-door neighbor with enough of its own people to topple that neighboring country?  The Palestinians seem to be more interested in destroying their neighbor Israel than in having a country of their own.