Tension, resentment, violence: What will it take to find peace?

Last week saw an unprecedented flare up in violence in Israel. With several Palestinian bombings, the Israeli military surrounded the Palestinian headquarters in Ramallah. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon claimed his country is in a war against terrorism, and Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat called for international intervention. The future may never have been so uncertain.

The former ambassador to Egypt, ambassador Frank Wisner '61 said yesterday in a lecture in McCosh, "In place of a hope for peace, we have radicalization, more terror."

But despite the growing need to find a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian back and forth, Wisner said he does not believe the solution is currently within anyone's grasp.

"At the heart of the array of all the problems we face, dogging each of our steps, is the state of Palestine," he said.

The Arab region's alienation from the rest of the world, from a failure to keep up economically and from some Arabs' moral departure to fundamentalism, frustrates the people of the region, Wisner said.

Abraham Udovitch, a professor of Near Eastern Studies, also said that frustration plays a role in the violence.

"There is this frustration. There is this fear," he said.

For 35 years, Udovitch explained, the Palestinians in the occupied territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights have lived without rights in constant surveillance by the Israeli military. "Every aspect of their life is under very severe control," Udovitch said.

"That's what's rubbing everything and that's what's causing this most immediate explosion of the past year and a half."

Udovitch said that there are only three possible paths the conflict can take. One, both unlikely and undesirable, is that one group drives out the other. Another, which Udovitch said is unrealistic, is that the Palestinians and Israelis share one state.

The sensible choice, Udovitch said, is for the two groups to form two states. He said in such a solution, the Israeli settlements would have to be removed and Israel would need to return to its 1967 borders.

Such a negotiated solution would provide both sides with security and likely lasting peace, Udovitch said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Wisner also said he believes peace can be achieved, even in the current climate of violence. The proof, he said, is in Israel's record of successfully negotiating peace with Egypt and Jordan.

Wisner said the terrorism and violence may continue during Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and the United States must accept that. The current U.S. policy, on the other hand, is that negotiations cannot move forward until there is a lasting cease fire.

Wisner, too, said that Israel could not force its way to peace. An iron wall, backed by the military, would not work, he said.

And the Palestinians and Israelis themselves, not just their political leaders, must believe in peace. "The notion of peace must be sold directly to the man on the street," Wisner said. The success of Israeli-Egyptian peace, he said, was in part a result of the efforts made by former president of Egypt Anwar Sadat to show his people that peace was best for everyone.

Standing between some Palestinians and peace is Islamic fundamentalism. Wisner said Arab leaders must take an active role in undermining its intellectual foundation to weaken its power.

Udovitch also said that public opinion plays a great role in the question of peace. "Charged propaganda in the press, in religious contexts and on television" on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides — though more so, he said, on the Palestinian side — is preventing each from completely accepting the other.

"The fundamental, fundamental issue is that both sides have to decide that both sides are prepared to accept the other's legitimacy," Udovitch said.

He continued that Israel should recognize the need for a self-ruled Palestinian state as determined by 1967 borders.

The right of return is another point of conflict between the two sides. The terms of the right under the United Nations resolutions, Udovitch said, are flexible.

"There could be a right of return to Palestine but not necessarily to Israel," he said.

Furthermore, Wisner said he thinks the Palestinians would likely be willing to negotiate the terms in order to find a middle ground with Israel.

"We're in the midst of a crisis," said history professor Hendrik Hartog, who is helping to organize an open discussion on the crisis. "The hope of the discussion is to talk and bring in whatever expertise to talk about what we can do as American citizens." The first discussion will be on Friday, and others, he said, may follow.

With discussion, the unknown solution to the crisis in the Middle East may be found.

Wisner is a career ambassador for the United States and has served as ambassador to India and to the Philippines, as well as to Egypt. He has held other diplomatic posts in various parts of the world.

Udovitch is the Khedouri Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East.