A high official of Israel’s ruling Labor Party, who says he speaks for Israel’s “silent majority,” has declared that his country must recognize that the Palestinian Arabs “exist as an infant nation.” This radical thought, one of the most controversial that can be expressed in Israel, is in direct contradiction with that of Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Premier. The idea is expressed in an interview with Time magazine by 48-year-old Arie Eliav, newly elected Secretary-General of the Labor Party.
In the interview with Time correspondent Marlin Levin, Eliav also expresses another controversial suggestion–that Israel must not annex any more territories beyond Jerusalem. Describing himself as a “super dove,” Eliav says: “My views are those of the silent majority. There hasn’t been a show of hands yet, but I hope that one day there will be.” Correspondent Levin’s interview with Eliav discussing the radical proposals for unilateral Israeli concessions to the Arabs took place last week in Tel Aviv. Regarding the question of the Palestinian Arabs, Eliav says: “The first thing we have to do is to recognize that the Palestinian Arabs exist as an infant nation. It is there, We have to recognize them. The sooner we do it, the better it will be for us, for them, for eventual peace.”
Time notes that Mrs. Meir is on record as saying that there is no such thing as either a Palestinian nation or people. As for the annexation of territories, Eliav says: “We have annexed Jerusalem. That is a fact that cannot be undone. But we should not annex any more territories.” In the interview Eliav also responds to the Israeli hard-line claim of all of Palestine on the basis of historical rights: “True, our forefathers lived here and in Jordan. But so did the Arabs. The solution has to be that two states can live equally together. There is ample place for a Jewish state as big as Holland, with ten million people, and an Arab state as big as Belgium with nine million. I think we should recognize a legitimate Arab national movement.”
Eliav also argues in the Time interview that of Zionism’s three principal goals, only one has been attained–the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine. The other two, providing a refuge for all Jews who want or need one and creating a model society based on the Jewish heritage, have not been completely fulfilled.
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