PURELY COMMENTARY
Eban Appeal
Continued from Page 2
38
FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1988
Abba Eban
and that peace is the only
solution.
When a reconciliation is
achieved and peace prevails,
there will then be, east of Israel,
a state in which the Palestinians
will comprise the majority of the
population, and the majority of
Palestinians will be citizens of
this state.
Hence, the freedom and pro-
sperity of Palestinians depend
on peace and peace alone. The
road to peace, sons of the Arab
nation, may be long and dif-
ficult, but will those who spent
scores of years in a conflict in
which there was much bloodsh-
ed and many victims hesitate to
proceed on the road to peace,
even if this road does involve
strenuous efforts and continued
and delicate political work? .. .
The Palestinians have the
right not to remain the
scapegoats. The Egyptian
mothers have the right not to
continue to pay the price with
the lives of scores of thousands
of their sons. It is the right of
Jordan not to remain deprived
of a dignified and stable life.
We, too, have the right to
start enjoying the noble heritage
of our neighbors. Let us all then
begin the negtiations on the
coming peace agreement in this
spirit. May God Almighty come
to our aid. Peace and the bless-
ing of God be upon you.
Abba Eban has been quoted very
frequently in recent months as a critic
of the current policies pursued by Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir, and the im-
pression may have been assumed that
he no longer addresses himself in public
affairs on the basis of defensive appeals
for Israel. His Arabic language address
is proof of his consistent views that are
not to be abandoned when his nation's
security is involved.
There are presently many
references to possible moderation in
some Arab ranks. The just-quoted Eban
appeal is as timely for them now as ever.
In consideration of Eban's status in
the continuing discussions and with
special reference to the events that
emerged as a result of the rioting and
rock-throwing, it is necessary to turn
the pages of history back to 1967. All
the claims about Israel's occupation of
Judea and Samaria — the West Bank
— with Israeli settlers is traced to that
year. That's when Abba Eban, address-
ing the United Nations General
Assembly, outlined Israel's defensive
role in the Middle East and pointed to
the Arab threats in this analysis of ex-
isting conditions:
. . . During Israel's first
decade, the intention to work for
her destruction by physical
violence had always been part
of the official doctrine and
policy of Arab states. But many
members of the United Nations
hoped and believed that relative
stability would ensue from the
arrangements discussed in the
General Assembly in March
1957. An attempt was then made
to inaugurate a period of non-
belligerency and co-existence in
the relations between the Arabs
and Israel.
There were times during the
past decade when it really seem-
ed that a certain stability had
been achieved. As we look back,
however, it becomes plain that
the Arab governments regarded
the 1957 arrangements merely
as a breathing space enabling
them to gather stength for a
later assault.
There would be no difficulty in
swelling the records with a thousand of-
ficial statements by Arab leaders in the
past few years announcing their inten-
tion to destroy Israel by diverse forms
of organized physical violence. The Arab
populations have been conditioned by
their leaders to the anticipation of a
total war, preceded by the constant
harassment of the prospective victim.
These continuing threats to Israel's
very existence served as an introduction
to a pamphlet entitled "The Record of
Aggression: The Arab Design for
Israel's Annihilation." Such has been
and continues as a threat and a
challenge not to be ignored in an
uninterrupted state of affairs. It is one
that needs renewed attention and it is
to be assumed that Abba Eban, whose
role wil surely remain inerasable from
Israel's diplomacy, will continue to
strive for a solution that will reduce and
hopefully eliminate the evil aggression.
A salute to Abba Eban must be ac-
companied by a pledge to labor for the
desired good will and enrollment of
Arabs in this task. Jewry and Israel are
committed to stand with Eban in these
aims. Hopefully, Eban's Arabic speech
of 1971 that apparently was met with
silence at the time, will at last be
treated with respect and cooperation in
these serious times.
Re lig ious News Service
lending voice and his literary skill to
the Zionist cause and the battle for just
rights for our people.
From these earliest years, commen-
cing with his brilliant speeches in the
UN, as soon as it became known that
Aubrey Eban — whose name was
hebraized — would be the speaker, the
UN halls were packed with admiring
listeners. This was the acclaim
wherever he spoke, in Israel and
especially the United States, at public
functions that must now number into
the many thousands.
It now develops that his "golden
voice" will not be heard again in an of-
ficial capacity as a member of the Israel
Knesset. It is because of an Israeli pro-
cedure of selecting parliamentary can-
didates as political choices of the ex-
isting parties., The earliest on the lists
are the more certain to be elected. Ab-
ba Eban always was in the top ten. His
associates in the Israel Labor Party now
choose to give him a much lower rank-
ing. He could have risked defeat. He
decided for the first time in 30 years no
longer to be a candidate for a seat in the
Knesset.
He will surely remain in the service
of his nation in one form or another. His
diplomatic skills are necessities for our
people. The admiration for him will re-
main undiminished.
His recordings will be imperishable.
His readings from and commentatories
on the 'Psalms and other classics will
continue as inspirations for the genera-
tions to come.
My friendship and association in
some tasks with him commenced from
pre-Israel statehood years. I have
reviewed his books and commented
upon his recordings. Therefore I am
able to refer with deep appreciation to
his many other qualities, besides elo-
quence and statesmanship. He is not
only the brilliant speaker. He is the
linguist who is as eloquent in Arabic as
he is in English and Hebrew, and
perhaps also in French. Yiddish is not
his forte but he is acquainted with its
literature.
This is the admired man who may
not come to us after this year as an MK,
as a member of the Knesset. His
background as an Israel envoy will
never be forgotten.
He confronted many enmities. He
swallowed much poison — from Arabs,
from anti-Semites, from politicians —
even from Jews who needed conviction
in our cause and in behalf of Israel and
her security.
Therefore, many of his speeches will
remain classics as appeals to justice for
our people. Therefore, especially, one
plea he addressed to the Arabs is
especially timely in this period of
violence and travail.
In a broadcast over the Israel
Radio's Arabic Service in early January
1971, Abba Eban, then the Israel
foreign minister, delivered an appeal to
the Arabs. In his speech in Arabic, Eban
said:
. . . Arabs everywhere, peace
is an aim which is not beyond
the reach of two fraternal na-
tions like ours. Palestinians liv-
ing in the areas are learning day
by day and hour by hour that
peaceful coexistence is possible
Austrian President Kurt Waldheim receives communion from Pope John Paul II at an outdoor
mass in Austria June 24.