Leon Cohen in his opinion article in the May 18 Chronicle (“Hiding behind code word”) mentions the documentary, “The Forgotten Refugees,” about Jews who lived in and had to flee from Arab countries.
I have not yet seen that documentary, but agree that large numbers of Jews left Arab countries for Israel because of discrimination.
However, suppose one can prove that Arabs historically did more to hurt Jews than Jews did to hurt Arabs. How is that going to bring peace or security to Israel?
That is the meaning of the title of the George F. Kennan Forum on International Issues session held on May 8 at the Pabst Theater: “Israelis and Palestinians: Finding a Way Forward.” The emphasis of the forum was not to argue about the past, but to look at the present and find ways to improve matters in the future.
In the forum, both sides had legitimate complaints and there was a feeling that a key issue was timing. Who was going make the first concession?
An obvious solution was ignored — unconditional negotiations. If that occurs, neither side has to go first.
This concept is accepted by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He does not require that Israel stop expanding the West Bank settlements, or take down settlements or part of the West Bank barrier as a precondition to negotiation.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert requires that Hamas change its charter, which calls for Israel’s destruction, as a precondition to negotiation, in an atmosphere in which the Palestinians have little hope of improvement in their miserable situation.
In my opinion, the Palestinians are much more likely to pressure Hamas to change its charter if the change is part of a peace treaty, because then they will be positive that changing the charter will help bring about improvement in their lives.
Ready for peace
In the forum, the Palestinian speaker Nadia Hijab, co-director of the Washington office of the Institute for Palestine Studies, said some controversial things. But the most important thing she said repeatedly was that the Arabs are ready for peace with Israel.
If true, this would be a change from the rejecting attitude the Arabs expressed after the 1967 war or during the Clinton negotiations.
Recent polls by the Palestinian Center For Policy And Survey Research (PSR) and the Truman Institute in Israel indicate that most Palestinian and Israelis want peace, but the specifics of compromises such as the Geneva Initiative or the Clinton package are accepted by roughly half of each population.
I believe that the reason that the majority of Palestinians in the occupied lands want peace is that they believe that it is the best way to end their suffering due to violence, horrible economic conditions and humiliation at checkpoints.
Hijab also cited the Saudi Peace Initiative of 2002, which says that if Israel makes peace with the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon, then the other Arab states will make peace with Israel. The specifics of the solution to the Palestinian refugee problem would be worked out in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese.
I believe that the Arab states have modified their position because they see the publicity of the Arab-Israeli conflict as helping Arab extremists, and they are more afraid of Arab extremists than they are of Israel. It is also probably true that their own fear of terrorism makes them more sympathetic to Israel’s terrorism problems.
Israeli speaker Amos Guiora, professor of law at Case Western Reserve University, was asked what Israel could do to work for peace. He did not say start negotiating now.
However, that was the implied advice that Holocaust survivor, novelist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel gave to Olmert at the Petra Conference in Jordan on May 15 (reported in the May 18 Forward).
When, according to the Forward article by Orly Halpern, Olmert said “that terrorism must stop before negotiations can begin on the terms of peace negotiations,” Wiesel replied, “You are negotiating to negotiate further?”
My fear is that Israel will ignore a window of opportunity created by recent positive Arab peace signals. This window could be closed by more militant Arab regimes in the future.
Robert Kuhn is a retired statistician living in Glendale, and is secretary of the Milwaukee chapter of Americans for Peace Now.
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