Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Sunday night he hopes President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will follow up the progress made at their historic summit meeting last week by joining efforts to reach peace in the Middle East.
“It is essential to demilitarize not only warheads, but also war roots — to settle conflicts, global and regional, diplomatically, peacefully,” Peres declared in an address to Yeshiva University’s 63rd annual Chanukah convocation and dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel here.
“We do not expect President Reagan or Chairman Gorbachev to negotiate for us,” Peres said, “nor do we expect them to impose solutions upon the parties. They should contribute, not dictate. They should legitimize the opening of negotiations between the parties.”
Peres, who has been calling for an international peace conference with the participation of the United States, the Soviet Union and the three other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, did not mention an international conclave in the course of his speech.
But he did call on the Soviet Union to renew its diplomatic ties with Israel. The Soviet Union severed its diplomatic relations with Israel during the 1967 Six Day War.
‘LET THEM BE JEWISH’
Peres said that Israel asks the Soviet Union to give its Jews “their basic human rights; to let them be Jewish and to let them join their brethren in their own homeland.”
Continuing, the Israeli minister remarked: “We tell the Soviet Union that the establishment of diplomatic ties between our two countries in not an ultimatum nor a prize. It is a normal channel of communication.”
As for the U.S. role in bringing peace between Israel and its neighbors, Peres said: “The U.S. helped bring Egypt and Israel together. It can help to do the same with Israel and Jordan so a solution can be found to the Palestinian problem.”
Appealing for unity among the different branches of Judaism, Peres told the more than 1,000 guests of the Orthodox university, “We must build a society that maintains our togetherness, though we may be divided in our views.” He called for a pluralistic but united Israel.
‘WELCOME ALL JEWS’
“The Law of Return should welcome all Jews to come and permit expression to their understanding of Jewishness within the shared home of Israel,” Peres said. “It is for this reason that I call for the widest spiritual expansion of our intellectual territory and for the greatest ingathering of exiles in our historic homeland.
“We have to ask both religious and secular Jews: ‘Can we exist without each other? Can we erase different streams in history simply because our generation tends to become impatient? Can we face the future divided? Did we come to rebuild our homeland together and to live separately?’ Oneness — yes; domination — no.”
At the convocation, Dr. Norman Lamm, Yeshiva University president, conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree upon the Israeli leader.
Peres left Sunday night for a one-week official visit to Brazil and Uruguay. This is the first visit by an Israeli foreign minister to these countries in the last 15 years.
The keynote speaker at the dinner was Jehan Sadat, widow of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who told the audience her recollections of Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem 10 years ago.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
