Detroit

Peace Assessment

Shimon Peres remains optimistic, but would not serve in a unity
government.

ALAN ABRAMS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

I

srael's former Prime Minister Shimon
Peres told The Jewish News last
Thursday that he would not serve in
a National Unity Government Cabi-
net.
"I am not looking for a position in the
Cabinet; I have had so many already.
What I am interested in is to see an Is-
raeli Cabinet that works for peace."
Mr. Peres was the guest speaker at a
fund-raiser sponsored by the Junior
League of Toledo. Tickets for the $125-a-
person event were sold out. The visit was
the first by Mr. Peres to the Ohio city, and
earlier in the day he met with leaders of
Toledo's Jewish community.
Asked by The Jewish News about
prospects for a peace treaty with Syria,
Mr. Peres said it would be very difficult
to renew the negotiations, and "even if
the negotiations were to be reopened, the
most complicated and difficult negotia-
tions would be awaiting us."
Mr. Peres said any agreement with
Syria would automatically include
Lebanon as well.
He speculated that reopening the ne-
gotiations with Syria would be among the
three top issues leading the agenda for

February's summit meeting between Is-
raeli Prime Minister Binyamin Ne-
tanyahu and U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Mr. Peres believes the other key points
of discussion would include Israel's fur-
ther redeployment following Hebron and
negotiation of a permanent solution with
the Palestinians.
"In addition, there is a need for build-
ing a modern economy in the Middle East
which would support peace. And also to
coordinate some sort of international ef-
fort to prevent terrorism from spreading,"
he said.
He does not believe relations between
the United States and Israel, "which are
in good shape," would be on the.agenda.
And he did not think Mr. Netanyahu
should seek a commitment from the Unit-
ed States for funds with which to build
up the area's economy.
"Further aid will be needed if peace
would include the Syrians, because then
we shall have, all of us, to mobilize in-
ternational support for solving the water
problem, which is heavy on all parties,"
said Mr. Peres.
"But that will come later. And I think
it will be a joint effort of the United

States, the Japanese and others."
Responding to a question about re-
solving the differences between Orthodox
and nontraditional Jews in Israel, which
have led to clashes, Mr. Peres suggest-
ed jocularly, 'We have to privatize reli-
gion as we did industries." He said
relations between religious and secular
individuals were not as much of a prob-
lem for Israel as are the relations be-
tween religious and nonreligious political
parties.
"When religion becomes a party, not
everything is for heaven's sake, and that
complicates matters occasionally," said
Mr. Peres.
Israel has become an entirely new
place, a country that lives in peace, with
all of the consequences, explained Mr.
Peres.
"Having peace means losing a great
deal of territory, so you have to compen-
sate with science for territory. Israel is al-
ready a country where you have more
academicians per square mile than any
other country. But the reason is that you
don't have that many square miles. Ac-
tually, Jewish people traditionally have
had more intelligence than land," he said.
During his Toledo press conference, Mr.
Peres stressed his belief that a confed-
eration between the Kingdom of Jordan
and the Palestinians would provide the
ultimate solution to the region's problems.
'We are definitely, and that includes
myself, against us ruling the Palestinian
people. For us. peace is a moral choice,
not a political expedience. We have de-
cided that we shall not remain domina-

tors or occupiers of the life of another peo-
ple," said the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize win-
ner.
That topic was touched upon again by
Mr. Peres during his speech that evening,
when he said the Palestinians have de-
veloped a taste for peace.
'e have decided officially that to re-
main occupiers of another nation works
against our traditions," said Mr. Peres.
"Never in our history did we occupy an-
other nation. And none of the nations that
have occupied is still in existence. So why
should we follow them?" Added Mr. Peres,
'We learned that it's difficult enough to
run Jewish lives, so why should we run
the lives of another people?" He later stat-
ed the Palestinians "should be liberated
from our rule."
The capacity audience of 1,500, which
had braved near-blizzard, sub-zero tem-
peratures to hear him speak, frequently
interrupted him with standing ovations.
Many were visibly moved by Mr. Peres'
emotional re-creation of the last day of
assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Ra-
bin.
He also talked of the horror of the ter-
rorist bombings of buses in Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv. And he struck an emotion-
al chord when he told how difficult it was
for him to politically embrace Yassir
Arafat.
"It wasn't easy. Our people hated the
PLO, hated Arafat, for good reason. They
killed many innocent people, women and
children. For many years, they allowed
bloodshed, indiscriminate assassinations,
and it was such that to try to make out of

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