Dr. Goldmann Urges Creation of a Neutralized Israel to Ensure Its Survival

In an article in the April issue of Foreign Affairs Quarterly, Dr. Nahum Goldmann has proposed a radical alteration of Israel’s position in the world as a means of ensuring its survival and fulfilling its unique destiny in Jewish history. The veteran Zionist leader urged the creation of “a neutralized Israel, outside the sphere of power politics” whose boundaries and security would be permanently guaranteed by the world community of nations–including even the Arab states. Dr. Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress and former president of the World Zionist Organization, wrote that his proposed solution “at first glance may seem utopian.” But, he said, his experience led him to the conclusion that Israel cannot continue to exist in a perpetual state of war with its neighbors and as an object of Big Power confrontation without nullifying the very ideals and purposes behind its creation, alienating the most idealistic elements of Jewry, losing the sympathy of progressive forces all over the world and eventually succumbing to the numerical superiority of its enemies.

Dr. Goldmann wrote, “It is the very uniqueness of the Jewish problem and of the Zionist idea as its solution which, in the last analysis, makes me doubt whether the creation and existence of a Jewish state no different in structure and character from any other state can be the real implementation of Zionism.” Continuing, he stated, “More and more…I am coming to the conclusion that Israel cannot be one of the more than a hundred so-called sovereign national states as they exist today and that, instead of relying primarily and exclusively on its military and political strength, it should be merely accepted but guaranteed de jure and de facto, by all peoples of the world including the Arabs, and put under the permanent protection of all mankind.”

He said that the two problems that in the long run will decide the destiny of Israel are its relations with the Arab world and its relations with diaspora Jewry. “The Arab world regards Israel as a foreign element in its midst and refuses to accept its existence. This feeling is growing with every new Israeli victory, so as to compensate for the Arab sentiment of humiliation and inferiority…The hope of some Israeli leaders that time is on their side and that the Arabs, recognizing Israel’s military capability, will be more ready to accept the fait accomplish of its existence, seems to me based on very tenuous assumptions,” Dr. Goldmann wrote. Regarding world Jewry, Dr. Goldmann maintained that there was not likely to be massive immigration to Israel from the free countries of the West and he doubted that a major part of Russian Jewry would go to Israel even if the Soviets lifted the impediments to emigration. If Israel is to fulfill its historical task of securing Jewish survival all over the world, it must “become the center of attraction, the greatest challenge for the best, most idealistic elements of the young generation which is in great danger of largely being lost to the Jewish people within a few decades,” he said. “An Israel at war, in permanent mobilization, cannot become this center…”

Another “negative consequence of this permanent state of war is that in many parts of the world it is the reactionary, nationalistic groups which have become the sponsors and admirers of Israel, whereas large parts of the progressive world have become disappointed and antagonistic to Israel,” Dr. Goldmann said. He observed that the proposed neutralization of Israel would have important consequences for the character and activities of the State. “Neutralization may even mean that a permanent, symbolic international force may have to be stationed in the state of Israel, so that any attack on it would imply an attack on all the states guaranteeing Israel’s existence and neutrality and participation in this international force.” Dr. Goldmann envisioned a neutral Israel as a nation that could devote the full force of its creative talents and resources to economic, cultural and spiritual pursuits. Dr. Goldmann suggested that such neutralization could be the basis for an Arab-Israeli settlement and peace. He stated that nothing could be done to implement his concept of a neutral Israel before the current state of war is ended by some kind of agreement between Israelis and Arabs. But Dr. Goldmann believes that if his concept should be accepted it would influence the character of the settlement of the present conflict.