Israel must not allow itself “to be isolated in the world” by refusing to move forward on the Middle East peace process, Shimon Peres, leader of Israel’s opposition Labor Party and a former prime minister, warned here this week.
“The Arabs have to compromise, we have to compromise,” said Peres, who spoke Tuesday afternoon to leaders of the American Jewish Committee and Wednesday morning to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
The role of the United States is crucial to promoting the peace process, said Peres, citing former President Jimmy Carter’s role in brokering peace between Israel and Egypt through the 1978 Camp David accords.
“I do believe that President Bush will contribute as much as he can to bringing the parties together — neither the Arabs nor us have another choice,” said Peres.
When asked whether he thinks Secretary of State James Baker is likely to meet with any success during his upcoming fourth trip to the region to promote negotiations, Peres quipped: “I think we can provide the difficulties; he has to provide the solution.”
Then he added, “I know that Secretary Baker has to negotiate a great deal of difficulties, and I hope he will not lose his hope and dedication.”
Despite reports of a possible rift between the United States and the Likud government over proposals for a peace conference, Peres said he does not believe U.S. aid to Israel is threatened.
“I don’t think the United States will threaten us economically,” Peres said at the AJCommittee gathering. “We need peace not to avoid an American threat. We need peace for our existence.”
The United States has recently expressed its displeasure over the recent establishment of new settlements in the administered territories, calling it an “obstacle to peace.”
GAZA STRIP IS A ‘BURDEN’
Israel receives $3 billion annually from the United States — the largest amount given to any country — and is poised to request $10 billion in guarantees for commercial loans to help the resettlement of Soviet Jewish immigrants. Some Israeli officials have warned the United States not to use financial pressure to bring Israel to the peace table.
Peres, whose Labor government presided over the initial settling of the West Bank in the 1970s, said he does not understand why Ariel Sharon, Israel’s hawkish housing minister, wants to build more settlements.
He said believing in “no land for peace” is an illusion, because, at least in the Gaza Strip, “we don’t give land we own; the owners of the land are the people residing in it.”
The administered Gaza Strip, which is not heavily populated with Jewish settlers, is not where the future of Israel lies, said Peres.
“Gaza is not a territory and Gaza is not an asset. And from the Israeli point of view, it is a burden,” he said, adding that he supports territorial compromise on the West Bank as well.
“We don’t feel the territories are in our hands,” said Peres, whose party withdrew from the Labor-Likud national unity government in March 1990 because of Likud’s refusal to compromise on the specifics of peace negotiations.
In laying out his idea for the peace process, Peres referred to the need for a joint Palestinian-Jordanian delegation, which would negotiate with Israel for a confederation that would include the Gaza Strip, portions of the West Bank and Jordan.
Peres dismissed the idea of an independent Palestinian state, saying, “The land we can offer them is not sufficient for an independent state, and the guarantees they can offer are not sufficient for people worried about their security.”
He also ruled out a role for the Palestine Liberation Organization because of the group’s terrorist activities.
Referring to the 1 million Soviet Jews expected to immigrate to Israel by the end of 1993, Peres said peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors would aid the Jewish state in successfully absorbing the new immigrants.
He suggested that Israel develop as a medical and engineering center for the whole Middle East, utilizing the tens of thousands of Soviet doctors, scientists and other professionals streaming into the country.
“Our future doesn’t lie in the Gaza Strip but in the Middle East,” Peres declared.
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