Today’s issue is the question of the “Jewish state.” This is shorthand for Israel’s demand that Palestinians specifically accept that the goal of current diplomacy is the mutual recognition of two independent, sovereign states — Palestine, the nation-state of the Palestinian people, and Israel, the nation-state of the Jewish people. Abbas affirmed last week that he would flatly refuse such a formula: “No way,” he said. The fact that he is, as Obama has said, the most moderate Palestinian leader Israel has ever dealt with, only lends gravity to the fact that he has adopted such a hard-line view.

On the surface, it is difficult to understand what all the ruckus is about. Israel, of course, was built by Jews as a haven for Jews. The 1947 U.N. resolution that gave international imprimatur to the partition of British-mandated Palestine mentioned the phrase “Jewish state” dozens of times. Surveys over the last decade by respected Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki show that 40 to 52 percent of Palestinians would accept recognition of Israel as the “Jewish state” — levels of support, it is important to note, achieved without Abbas’s public endorsement.

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