Two high ranking representatives of Israel and Egypt recognized each other in a public debate dealing with the Middle East conflict and referred courteously to each other’s remarks while still standing firmly behind the official positions of their respective governments. The speakers were Ambassador Amiel Emile Najar, political advisor to the Foreign Minister of Israel, and Tahssin Bashir, Egyptian Ambassador-at-Large and an official spokesman for President Anwar Sadat.
The occasion was a three-day symposium on the Middle East held at Laval University in Quebec over the weekend. It was sponsored by the Quebec Center for International Relations in collaboration with the World Peace Foundation of Boston, Mass., the Paris-based Center for Studies of Foreign Policy and the Canadian Institute for international Affairs based in Toronto. The symposium was attended by scores of sociologists, political scientists and other academicians from the U.S., Canada, Britain, France and Switzerland.
Bashir urged Israel “to sit down and talk with the PLO now” and urged the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a peaceful solution of the Middle East dispute embodying security and justice for all parties. Najar rejected the PLO because it “has not renounced its aim to destroy Israel.” He questioned its credentials as an authentic representative of the Palestinian people and warned that a new Arab state between Jordan and the Mediterranean would be an explosive source.
DESIRE FOR PEACE EXPRESSED
Although the Israelis and Egyptians were as widely apart as ever on the Palestinian issue, they expressed themselves with moderation and both appeared to be sincerely motivated by desire for peace, according to Albert Legault, director general of the sponsoring organization.
The Egyptian representative asked rhetorically, “How can a lasting peace be achieved without granting the Palestinians the right to live as an independent nation?” He stated that “What we need now is practical, not theoretical justice to solve the problem on the basis of Resolutions 242 and 338; and we are willing to fully implement them and we wish to offer the Israelis and the Arabs the possibility of making a new Middle East in the not too distant future.”
Bashir added: “We are ready to discuss with the Israelis our mutual security under iron-clad guarantees while Israel must recognize the Palestinians and the Palestinians must forget the injustice inflicted on them and give peace a chance…. The conflict cannot be solved by war and we must make an effort to meet the legitimate claims of both Israelis and Palestinians.” He said that he did not see danger of a new war but the danger of stalemate.
Najar pointed out that there is real interest in Israel for Arab culture–as proven by the opening of an Islamic museum in Jerusalem–and the Arabs need not fear that they will lose their identity in Israel. He noted the existence of Jewish communities in Arab countries 2500 years ago, long before the birth of Islam. If the Arabs renounce their policy of violence, the future of Arab-Israeli relations will develop along healthy lines, he said.
Najar noted, however, that while the Security Council is for a policy of negotiations, the UN General Assembly, maneuvered by Arabs and Communists, is for a policy of dictation to Israel.
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