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'We 've Seen Worse'

Peres optimistic about Israel's future.

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Israeli President Shimon Peres

Dina Kraft
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Tel Aviv

S

himon Peres says Israel and
the world are entering a
new era that is equal parts
dangerously uncertain and rich in pos-
sibility.
"Our problems today are the prob-
lems of the world:' Peres said in an
interview. "Who is going to win, terror
or peace? Who is going to win, Iran or
[the] nations?"
For Peres, who began his political
career as an aide to David Ben-Gurion
and at age 84 is capping it as Israel's
president, says his country's current
challenges are dwarfed by those of
earlier eras.
"In 60 years we overcame more dif-
ficult periods',' he said.
Of the confrontation between spon-
sors of terrorism and pursuers of peace,
Peres said, "I think we shall win it:'
Peres says the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict has moved beyond a territo-
rial dispute between two peoples and
become part of a broader paradigm
that pits backward-looking funda-
mentalists, including the regime in
Tehran, against moderates in the
Middle East.
Perhaps Israel's most famous opti-
mist, Peres says he sees the silver lining
through the gloom, and he dismisses
the notion that a window for peace-
making is closing due to rejectionist
groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
"I don't think we can close a win-
dow because we don't live in a closed
house he said. "The fanatics are also
losing to the growing strength of free-
dom and modernity."

Driven by his vision for a more
open and collaborative world, Peres is
assembling a star-studded guest list
for an upcoming conference called the
Face of Tomorrow that will discuss the
future of Israel, the Jewish world and
the globe as part of Israel's 60th anni-
versary celebrations.
Peres says he hopes the part of the
conference devoted to the "Jewish
tomorrow" will help enhance and alter
relations between the diaspora and
Israel.
"I think we live in a new age; and
we need to adapt ourselves to the new
age, which is basically scientific, intel-
lectual and artistic, and less material
and less financial," he said. "I think we
are blessed with a great deal of talents
and opportunities to make use of it
and to be a contributing nation to the
world.
"We are too small to be a market,
too small to be an industry:' he said of
Israel. "But we are able enough to serve
as a world laboratory for new ideas."
Peres says diaspora and Israeli Jews
have to find ways to be more creative
together to become what he called a
"contributing people." In the past, he
said, Israel's needs were more material.
Today they are more intellectual.
He singled out the field of renewable
energies as one area in which Israel
can help bring progress to the world.
"I think Israel can be a green pio-
neer;' Peres said. "You see, the greatest
enemy of humanity today in my judg-
ment is oil because oil creates pollu-
tion and finances terror, and I prefer
Israel hang on the sun rather than the
oil;' he said.
"The sun is more permanent, the
sun is more democratic and the sun is
not a member of the Arab League." ❑

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April 24 • 2008

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