Israel's population is about 20 percent Palestinian Arab. From Haaretz:
The Foreign Ministry said Monday that Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state was 'crucial' for reconciliation between the two sides after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Israeli calls to do so.
"Recognition of Israel as the sovereign state of the Jewish people is an essential and necessary step in the historic reconciliation process between Israel and the Palestinians," the ministry said in a statement.
"The sooner the Palestinians internalize this basic and essential fact, peace between the two peoples will progress and come to fruition."
Abbas made his comments on the issue, which emerging as a main obstacle to peacemaking, in a speech earlier in the day.
"I do not accept it," the Western-backed Abbas said. "It is not my job to give a description of the state. Name yourself the Hebrew Socialist Republic – it is none of my business."
P.S. I know that some conservatives would accept the challenge of my headline: It's a Christian country. My family never did. My mama loved Madalyn Murray O'Hair for her nuttiness about the Pledge of Allegiance. And I bet a lot of young Americans wouldn't go along with that premise either.
