Jews do not constitute a nation, Chancellor Bruno Kreisky said in an interview for a supplement on the Arab world in the newspaper, Die Presse. “For me, the different Jewish groups are communities of fate,” he stated. “Jews live everywhere in the world. They have much more in common, both in appearance and lifestyle, with their host people than they have with each other.” There are, he added, Black Jews, Indian Jews and Mongolian Jews, which “proves” that there is no Jewish nation.
Kreisky also said he advocates the return of “west Jordan territories” to the Arabs. These territories, although they had once constituted Jewish provinces, should belong to those who have lived there for the last several centuries. The only solution to the Middle East conflict, he said, would be the recognition of the existence of the State of Israel, but at the same time the existence of a Palestinian nation must also be recognized.
The Chancellor, who is a member of the Socialist (Second) International and has headed several fact-finding missions of the organization, said he has recommended round-table talks of the members of the International an ways to solve the conflict. In the second phone of such talks, he said, Socialist representatives of Arab countries should be invited to take part. Israel’s Labor Party is a member of the International but Arab countries are not represented in it. Kreisky has frequently been critical of Israel’s Middle East positions.
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.
