Palestinians Need a State, Too : The Moment Is Right for Peace, and That Requires Direct Talks With the PLO

There are moments in history when it is necessary to make war, to fight. And there are moments when it is necessary to make peace, to talk. I think that we are now living within such a moment in the Middle East.

Sometimes conflicts, like people and nations, ripen and mature. In one phase they defy reasonable resolution. But, in another, what was not possible before becomes thinkable. Whatever one’s perspective on the past, it is my firm view that the Israeli-Palestinian imbroglio is a conflict now ready for solution. Those who are hostages to the past, those who do not appreciate the historic moment, should move aside. Those who can lead the way forward to a new, peaceful, productive relationship between the two Semitic peoples who both have a legitimate claim in Palestine or Eretz Israel must be helped and encouraged.

Decades ago, when the people of my heritage were in desperate need following the unimaginable devastation and suffering of the Holocaust, I tried to do all that I could.I am proud of the modest help that I have been able to give to the building of modern Israel, to the Zionist dream and to the forging of strong relations between my own country and the new Jewish state.

When I was president of Bnai B’rith International in the 1950s and then the World Jewish Congress in the 1970s, and chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also back in the ‘50s, I always tried to be realistic about the dangers of war while being open to the possibilities of peace.

At 81, I have spent a lifetime of effort on behalf of a strong and healthy Israel, world peace, a vibrant United Nations and a future that will allow human spirit and creativity to triumph over our destructive and tribal impulses.

The last time I spoke out forcefully on these issues was on July 3, 1982, with two of my eminent colleagues--Nahum Goldmann, who founded the World Jewish Congress and headed the World Zionist Organization, and Pierre Mendes-France, the distinguished former president of France who ended French involvement in Indochina.

Our “Paris Declaration” called for an immediate end to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. In deference to me, the declaration ended with a call for a “Palestinian homeland” in the occupied territories to coexist with Israel--although my colleagues even then understood that nothing short of a “Palestinian state” would satisfy the needs and desires of the Palestinians and that such a development is imperative not only for the good of the Palestinians but for the good of Israel as well.

Today, after considerably more tragedy and human misery, much of world society is advocating such a course.Even the United States, Israel’s staunchest friend, is cautiously stepping in this direction. Furthermore, the dangers of failing to seize this moment in history are substantial. Statesmen, however visionary and capable, are but frail humans. Countries have collective personalities and political gridlocks that are not always amenable to doing what is for the good of their people. And the weapons of modern destruction have in themselves created a new imperative that we neglect at tremendous peril.

Both the Jewish people and the Palestinian people need a homeland. Both will have to accept less than their dreams. Both have their uncompromising elements that prefer fighting to talking, and their skeptical elements that don’t believe that the power of negotiations can supersede that of conflict.

Just as the Jewish problem necessitated the creation of a Jewish state earlier in this century, the Palestinian problem today requires the Palestinians’ self-determination in their own state. Only direct talks, facilitated if need be by true friends of each, preferably of both, are likely to bring about the desirable result.

This is a time when the people themselves seem wiser than some of their leaders. A majority of Israelis, just like a majority of American Jews, realize that the address for discussions is the PLO. And with the recent Palestine National Council meeting in Algiers, a majority of the Palestinians have expressed their appreciation that a negotiated settlement with Israel is just as imperative for themselves.

Now is the time to make peace . . . to talk.