PURELY COMMENTARY

Weizmann And Kissinger

Continued from Page 2

ceivably acceptable to radical
countries like Syria or radical
groups like the PLO would be to
mortgage Israel's strategic and
psychological existence.
At the same time Israel's
dilemma is that it can neither
continue to sit on a
demographic time bomb that
will condemn it to international
isolation, nor can it return to the
1967 frontiers without under-
mining its security. In short,_
with respect to the West Bank
and Gaza, any settlement must
strike a balance between
Israel's maximum security
needs and full Palestinian
self-determination.
At the end, each party must
be prepared to settle for partial
satisfaction and, therefore, par-
tial dissatisfaction.
A realistic diplomacy should
strive for an interim arrange-
ment for the West Bank and
Gaza that separates the ter-
ritorial from the political issues
for, say, five years. Israel must
accept the fact that holding on
to Gaza and the entire West
Bank is in the long run
unsustainable.
The moderate Arab states
must accept the fact that Israel
cannot be asked to commit
suicide in the name of peace, or
to cede territory to an organiza-
tion sworn to destroy it.
In a territorial settlement
Israel should, therefore, agree to
cede Gaza and those territories
on the West Bank not essential
_ to its security to ultimate Arab
sovereignty, subject only to
demilitarization. In addition, it
should indicate its readiness to
discuss such a final security
border immediately.
Israel would agree to self-
government for these territories,
except for specifically defined
limited security functions to
verify demilitarization. In the
1970s the Israeli deputy prime
minister, Yigal Allon, put for-
ward a concept to give up the
most heavily populated areas
while retaining control of
strategic heights and key points
in the Jordan Valley. This might
serve as a starting point for
discussion.
The quid pro quo would be
a permanent cease-fire, in-
cluding a renunciation of ter-
rorism. The. PLO would not
govern the ceded territories,
although individual Palesti-
nians could hold key offices.
Either Jordan alone or Jordan
with Egypt and Saudi Arabia
could act as custodian under
U.N. auspices until a final
political settlement is reached.
The interim period would
test practical coexistence be-
tween Israel and a self-
governing Arab entity and with
luck lead to a Palestinian
leadership prepared to live with
Israel and to accept the relevant
Security Council resolutions.

40

FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1988

In such an approach, all par-
ticipants would gain something
substantial and give up
something substantial. Israel
would achieve recognition of
essential security concerns. The
Arab side would achieve
recognition of the Palestinians'
claim to self-determination and
see the creation of a Palestinian
entity — albeit demilitarized —
under U.N. auspices and with an
Arab custodial role.
Israel would forgo its max-
imum claims over hostile
populations; the Arabs would
give up claims that amount to
the piecemeal destruction of
Israel. As for the United States,
it would be building on the first
stage of the Shultz plan and
carry the ideas implicit in the
Camp David accords to their
logical conclusions.
If such a plan — or a varia-
tion of it — proves not
negotiable, Israel should imple-
ment major portions of it
unilaterally — though it would
then have to retain a larger role
in the security field. The United
States should in these cir-
cumstances pause in pursuing a
"process" that can only promote
consequences it does not intend
until the parties have come
closer together.
In fact, the greatest service
American diplomacy can
render the so-called peace pro-
cess is to impress upon all the
parties that they must moderate
their demands or forgo
America :1 participation.
Here we have a sample of diplomacy
that recognizes the "will to live" and
specifically endorses the rejection of
anything that might spell suicide. Yet
there must be recognition of the
obstacles to this seriously-proposed plan
for action, with the urgency of
American participation.
Again the recognition of the terri-
fying fact that there are no Arabs to
deal with — their leadership is subject
to assassination if they deal with Israel.
One who reached an accord with Jews
— Anwar Sadat — was murdered.
Therefore the minimalizing of hopes.
But one never gives up. Even in the
pessimistic element of Henry Kissinger
there is an echo of Chaim Weizmann's
and our will to live.
Therefore, also the hope that with
this Kissinger echo, which asserts a de-
fiance of suicide, there is the aspiration
that he will join the ranks of the
vigilant with a determined will to enlist
all who are available in a genuine peace
task.
The voice of Israel has not been
dealt with here. The' American position
is treated as vital and as urgency. In a
genuinely workable and friendly part-
nership which is judged as realism by
Kissinger, the two must merge in plan-
ning stages. There will always be the
need for leadership that is vigilantly
favorable to Israel in the hopeful stages
of peace negotiating processes. Will
Kissinger be a candidate for this impor-
tant role? His vigilance as a Jew as well
as an American must be acceptable for

such a nomination. Because in such an
acknowledegment and commitment lies
the assurance of rejecting a museum as
Jewry's fate and solidifying the commit-
ment and acclaim for the will to live.

Holocaust
Literature
Reminder

R

ecognizing the need to keep
alive the memories of the tragic
Hitler years as an aim to pre-
vent their repetition, the Holocaust
literature is multiplying. The newest
admonition is to be aware of the realism
that there won't be many more years
before those who have gone through the
horrors will not be alive to tell the per-
sonal experiences. That is why, even
when repetitive, every new addition to
the Holocaust bookshelf serves an im-
portant purpose.
"Smoke and Ashes" is one such new
book. Barbara Rogasky, who has
devoted years of accumulating facts on
this and related books, provides
voluminous data on the Holocaust in
this volume published by Holiday
House.
The theme of special significance in
"Smoke and Ashes: The Story of the
Holocaust" is the proof that there was
resistance.
It is in the episodes stemming from
the death camps and the attempted
escapes. The author has included
Treblinka, Auschwitz, Sobibor and
Majdanek.

In all instances the escapes also
were marked by tragedies. Very few sur-
vived and succeeded in their efforts. But
the resistance was enacted and the Nazi
brutalities are in the record of having
been condemned by the Jewish victims.
However minimal, the facts recorded
here show that there was a measure of
heroism in defiance of the altogether
undefeatable Nazi brutalities.
There is an approach to a measure
of totality in dealing with the Holocaust
in the Rogasky volume. The tragic
background is introduced. The ac-
cumulation of hatreds is indicated. The
aim for a Final Solution is explained.
The reader is taken to the camps to
be a witness to the manner in which
Jews were tortured. There is also the
Jewish determined will to live and the
retention of legacies that are part of the
resistance by Jews who observed tradi-
tions and retained hope for survival.
Then there are the political aspects,
the failures by the so-called democratic
nations to aid in rescue efforts.
The roles of the rescuers and the
Righteous Gentiles are not ignored.
Photographically, this volume at-
tains added importance. The pictorial
record of the horrors is recalled. The fact
that most of these photos come from
German sources emphasizes the
authenticity of this conscientiously-
recorded history of mass murders and
inhuman tortures.
Here is an approach to totality in
tracing the Holocaust experiences in
"Smoke and Ashes."

Israel Chemicals is one of the largest government-owned firms in Israel. Its Dead Sea Works
at Sedom is on the shore of the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth.

