The more stridently Israel insists on Palestinian recognition of it as the nation-state of the Jewish people, the more adamantly the Palestinian leadership seems to refuse. As a result, some senior Israeli officials are beginning to question the wisdom of the policy of their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made recognition of the legitimacy of the Jewish nation-state a prerequisite for any final agreement with the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, saying that only then they will be ready to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Army Radio reported Friday. Speaking at a meeting of worldwide Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Friday, Netanyahu said that peace must be based on a mutual agreement.

Netanyahu stands at Israel s new political center, which is to the right of where it was five years ago. An iron-clad Israeli narrative exists: We removed settlements from Gaza and look what we got - Hamas rockets! That s the prism through which withdrawal from the West Bank is viewed. You can dispute the narrative but it s there. So Palestinians must deal with it. Their thirst for sovereignty is matched only in intensity by Israel s insistence on security. Here lies the hinge of peace. In reality the Jewish state opening gambit is an attempt to settle the Palestinian refugee issue ahead of discussion of other final-status questions like borders. That can t work. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, has said a peace accord would settle all historical demands code for refugees and enough for now.