TEDDY KOLLEK
547
our own standards, we shouldn't be influenced by the press, foreign or local. I
think our standards are on the whole positive ones.
It
is sometimes diffi–
cult,though, because people are influenced.
WP:
We have observed also a division of Israeli opinion itself, on many of
these basic questions.
TK:
Well, when you have a free country and there is free discussion, some–
times things are exaggerated in
all
directions.
WP:
You don't think the division has harmful effects?
TK:
Look, it certainly would be much better if we could talk in unison. But
it's not always very effective. The Russians have talked in unison for years.
Look where it led them. So there are exaggerations in our internal criticisms,
sometimes even masochistic criticism. But this is how we are, we can't
change that.
WP:
Amos Oz has told us that people don't realize that the Peace Now
movement here is not the same as the Peace Now movement in America. In
America it is sort of floating in the air and is irresponsible. Peace Now here,
he claims, is much more responsible.
EK:
What do you think of the movement here?
TK:
I think their sentiments are correct, but they aren't very practical. Still,
you need impractical people too. I
think
they're a decent lot.
WP: You're right, there are a lot of
luJtmenschen.
EK:
I was going to ask another question which may be a bit foolish: people
have compared you to Ed Koch of New York. Do you see these similarities?
TK:
Yes, they have compared the cities and their problems. But there are
seven million people there, we have half a million people. jerusalem is
different from every other city.
It
really cannot be compared. I will give you
the basics. New York is a heterogeneous city and so are we. But all the
people in New York, or most, regard themselves as Americans, and they
want to be Americans; in the end you won't have a melting pot, that will
never come about, but you'll have a mother culture. They'll
all
speak English,
and they'll all want to be Americans. This is not so here. This is a heteroge–
neous city historically and on principle. The Greeks have been here for
roughly 1,800 years, and they are still a tight community; and the Armeni–
ans and the Ethiopians have been here since the beginning of the fourth cen–
tury. They have kept their language, their religion, their eating habits, their
dress, and their own schools; and they have never wanted to become Arab
or Turk or British or jordanian. They want to remain Armenians or
Ethiopians. This is one aspect. Secondly, jerusalem is a very poor city. Not
that New York is the richest one. Still, compared to us it is a rich city. I think
that Ed Koch is a good mayor and a good person, and he has always been
very decent to us in the positions he has taken. He visited here several
