16
PARTISAN REVIEW
or not , you have one aim. And that's what gives life a meaning. For
example , a Soviet prison is a fantastically good school for learning
tolerance . I think it is the freest place in the Soviet Union and maybe
the most tolerant place in the world. Imagine, in one cell there sits a
Ukrainian nationalist , aJewish nationalist, a Lithuanian Catholic, a
Communist, a monarchist, and a trade union activist, and all of
them have not only to talk to one another, but what in the free world
is impossible, they struggle together against the K .G .B. That is a
real school of thought, of political science.
RR:
But you are not advocating the experience.
NS:
No, I am not advocating it , but at times , looking at some or–
dinary, intolerant people, I think that a few weeks in a Soviet prison
would be a good school.
RR:
What do you feel should be the role of American Jews in in–
fluencing American foreign policy vis-a-vis the Soviet dissidents?
NS:
Jews must understand first of all that in acting on behalf of the
Soviet Jews and on behalf of defending human rights in the Soviet
Union, they are not simply a Jewish lobby in their own country.
They are acting, in fact, in the interest of the West, in the interest of
their own country. One little example: When I was trying to mobi–
lize many people for a demonstration in Washington, one of the
arguments was , "Why should we , Jews, spoil the atmosphere of de–
tente? They'll think that our problems are more important," and
so on. And when the demonstration was over, they said how impor–
tant what we did was for America.
RR:
How do you feel about the situation with the Palestinians? Also,
how do you feel about American reaction to this situation?
NS:
Israel definitely has serious problems, maybe the most serious
challenge which we have had since the creation of our state . But we
have had this challenge from the beginning: how to survive. How to
survive in the sea of Arab states, whose aim is to destroy the state of
Israel. How to protect yourself against the reign of terror. At the
same time , how to be a genuinely democratic state , with respect for
the human rights of Jews and Arabs.
My problem is that each time I am asked about human rights
in Israel and the problem of the Palestinians , the question is formu–
lated in this way: "You , as a Soviet Jew who suffered in the Soviet
Union, now must understand the Palestinian situation in Israel,
because their fight and your fight are the same ." And each time I
have to stop people and say, "rm sorry, but with all my experience
