Recognition of Israel as a Jewish State: Between the Right of Return and Resolving the Conflict

Israel demands Palestinians to recognize the Jewish identity of its entity (Jewishness of state). The new condition is considered an extra one on the Palestinian party regarding the Oslo agreement signed in 1993. The PLO has already recognized Israel's existence through exchanged letter between both parties earlier. The new requirement carries many legal, political, and even religious risks at the Palestinian rights. This research explores the effects of such a new condition on the Arab-Israeli conflict. It investigates the main implications of this demand on the primary final solution issues, particularly the question of Palestinian refugees and the Palestinian self-determination right. The research considers two main axes: 1) the role of Judaism activities in the main stages of the conflict; 2) the dangers of any Palestinian recognition of Judaism of Israel state. It concludes that the recognition of Israel's Jewish identity would endanger the Palestinian right of return and their right to self-determination. Moreover, this recognition would support the Israeli claims regarding its full right to control the Palestinian territory. Such recognition entails a Palestinian appeal for any solution to the conflict at the expense of all Palestinian rights, both the rights of the Palestinian refugees and other collective political rights of the Palestinian people, above all their right to self-determination.