# Strictly factual question about middle east **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068 "2002-04-05T20:59:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/1 "2002-04-05T20:59:49Z")
Please stay on-topic. Has Arafat/PLO ever acknowledged the right of Israel to exist as a nation in: 1. Official documents or treaties 2. Speaking to the media or public _ **in arabic** _? Part 2: what other Arab nations have done so? ---
**Author:** ![Parameter\_928\_178](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Parameter\_928\_178](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parameter_928_178)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/2 "2002-04-05T21:15:02Z")
Does it matter? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/3 "2002-04-05T21:21:00Z")
Answer to Part 2 - Egypt and Jordan have. Both of them have official peace treaties with Israel. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/4 "2002-04-05T21:31:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Parameter Π² \* > \*\*Does it matter? \*\* If you can’t see the obvious implications of an answer of “no,” I can’t help you. More specifically, a TV news type said that the answer to part one was negative, and I want confirmation or refutation. ---
**Author:** ![Parameter\_928\_178](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Parameter\_928\_178](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parameter_928_178)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/5 "2002-04-05T21:42:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by furt \* > \*\* > If you can’t see the obvious implications of an answer of “no,” I can’t help you. > > More specifically, a TV news type said that the answer to part one was negative, and I want confirmation or refutation. \*\* I believe that the answer to **my return question** to you is “no” and that the implications of not directly addressing that fact far outweigh the implications to negative answers to your questions, which I also believe to be “no”–with a few exceptions as **cmkeller** indicated. ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/6 "2002-04-05T23:33:47Z")
So much for staying on-topic… ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/7 "2002-04-06T02:25:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by furt \* > > Has Arafat/PLO ever acknowledged the right of Israel to exist as a nation in: > > 1. Official documents or treaties The implication of the Oslo accords and subsequent treaties is just that. Such documents have Arabic versions. > [@](#): > > 1. Speaking to the media or public _ **in arabic** _? PLO representatives have made statements to that effect in Arabic. I recall discussion/mention of ‘hudoud dawlet Israel’ -Israeli State borders on a program. The organization is an umbrella body, however, and is riven with factions so it is not always clear who is speaking with real authority. It may be best to say that some portions of the PLO/PA have, some have not. > [@](#): > > Part 2: what other Arab nations have done so? Several Gulf States, if I recall Oman included, maintain discrete but not secret relations. Some ambiguity there. Mauretania has maintained its ambassador, Morocco has discrete relations including exchange of ‘embassies’ – representations. Jordan and Egypt of course have peace treaties. Saudi Arabia has de facto recognized Israel with its initiative. Even Muammar, the charming eccentric that he is, proposed asking Israel to join … hmm, I believe it was indeed the Arab league, but in any event joining a regional body with the Arab states. Bizarre. Probably the hardest line is Syria, Libya vacillates according to Muammar’s whims. I also refer you to my GD message a few days ago characterizing my experience with the term “the Israeli state” in Arabic media. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/8 "2002-04-06T05:17:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Parameter Π² \* > \*\*Does it matter? \*\* It doesn’t have to _matter_, it just has to have a factual answer. As for whether it matters, that is probably a topic for a different forum. ---
**Author:** ![Parameter\_928\_178](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Parameter\_928\_178](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parameter_928_178)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/9 "2002-04-06T15:17:11Z")
Thank you, **bibliophage**. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strictly-factual-question-about-middle-east/102068/10 "2002-04-06T15:38:59Z")
> [@](#): > > The implication of the Oslo accords and subsequent treaties is just that. “Implications” are vacations that imps take. There is a major difficulty in dealing with “implications”, since the West (generalizing) tend to see one set of implications and the Arabs (generalizing) tend to see another. There is implication in the use of terms like “occupied territories”, for instance, where the U.S. readers think that means territories occupied by Israel following the 1967 war, while most Arab readers think that means all of Israel. If it comes to a flat out official statement by Arafat that Israel has a right to exist, no, there has not been.