ROBERT WISTRICH
457
The present Israeli government has again and again said that it is
committed to the unity of Jerusalem as the nation's capital and that is
non-negotiable. But if we consider only the diplomatic comings and go–
ings at Orient House, these have in practice strengthened the position of
the Palestinians in the coming battle over the future ofJerusalem. Hence
there are good reasons to question how secure the declared status ofJ e–
rusalem as Israel's undivided capital really is. This status is of course totally
rejected by Chairman Arafat and the PLO. In their eyes, "Al Quds"
(''Jerusalem'' in Arabic) is the ultimate objective of the Jihad and the fu–
ture capital of the coming Palestinian state. I can see no way to reconcile
these contradictory aspirations. Nor is there any convincing way to re–
solve the status of Jewish settlements within the Palestinian authority,
which the present government has kept in place. With regard to the elec–
tions, everything remains open, though in balance I think that Mr. Peres
is still likely to be re-elected as Prime Minister. Whateve the final out–
come, these elections are probably the most crucial turning point since
the establishment of the State of Israeli.
Edith Kurzweil:
Thank you very much, Robert. I'd like to invite ques–
tions and comments from all of you.
Question :
What form do you think the dialogue might take between
secular Israelis and Orthodox Israelis? My understanding of the negotia–
tions with the Syrians is that part of the
quid pro quo
would be a Syrian
crackdown on Hamas activities in Damascus, and that therefore this is
what Peres is interested in. Do you agree?
Robert Wistrich:
I will start with the second point. I think that Peres
made a smart move (from his point of view) in widening the scope of the
negotiations with Syria.
It
is, of course, inconceivable that there could be
any arrangement with the Syrians which would not include a guarantee
that they would put an end to the activities of the Hezbollah in southern
Lebanon. This is a persistent festering sore that costs Israeli lives almost
every day. And it is
a
continuous threat to Israeli civilians in Northern
Galilee. Moreover, Hamas and all the Palestinian rejectionist organizations
(which do not accept the Oslo agreement) - indeed all the anti-Israel
terrorist organizations, have a base in Damascus.
It is a source of astonishment to me that Israel has never made it a
condition to deal with Syria only after it takes decisive action to halt the
proxy war it has engaged in for so many years on Israel's northern border;
that it cease being a major center of terrorist activities against Israel. It
seems to me that the United States has been more active than Israel, at
