M-T
The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, September 14, 1989-Page 5
World-National
Justice Minister at Vancouver BGU dinner
to peace^ says
■■■.By, ■;■ GARYPOGROW
VANCOUVER-
Israel is taking two actions regiafding the intifada, says Dan Meridor, Israel's minister of justice. One — it is fighting b^ek because it wants to show that violence doesn't pay, but at the same time: "we are opening the door to peace with no conditions."
" 'Come aiid talk,'we tell them," said Meridor. " 'Talte your fate in your own hands. We know ttiat it is very difficult but come and talk to us.' " Meridor was in Vancouver as guest speaker at a dinner honoring Elaine and Abe Charkow at the Four Seasons Hotel. It was sponsored by the Vancouver chapter of the Canadian Associates of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The master of_ ceremonies was Vancouver-born and two-time Emmy Award winning producer of CBS' 60 Minutes, Barry Lando, a longtime friend of the Charkows.
The dinner was closed to the media but Meridor attended a media conference earlier in the day;"where~he declared thatj^ "we don't need any more proposals to solve the Arab-Jewish queistion. We need a partner with whom we can talk. Then we'll find solutions."
Meridor was secretary to the cabinet from 1984i, and then was elected to the Knesset, serving on the foreign relations, defence and law committees. As cabinet secretary he was confidant to the prime minister, political and diplomatic advisor and, from time to tiine, spokesman for the government.
Meridor told the media conference. he~- doesn't question the philoisophy of those who support the FLO'S ideas, "but the PLO activists are the ones we won't talk to."
He acknowledged that there is a genuine dispute between Arabs and Jews about land. But once the conflict moves frcHn the existential problem of whether Israel has a right to exist to the problems of borders, then Israel can negotiate^ he said;
Meridor was critical of the assumption that Arafat andthe PLO are presenting a new image, and talking about Palestinian self-determination. "Self-determination is a nice Westeni word," he said. "Fifty years ago Hitler used the same phrase for the Germans living in Czechoslovakia and, at that time, Hitler had a peaceful image too."
Meridor called Arafat and the PLO the "major obstacles" to peace. He cited the recent Fatah conference which called the creation of Israel a crime.
"The only thing we can negotiate with the PLO is our funeral arrangements," said Meridor, "and we have no intention of doing that. We cannot have the FLO and peace together. The choice is the FLO or peace."
Asked about the bad press Israel has been getting, Meridor said that TV with its pictures of civilians throwing stones at armed troops naturally creates sympathy for the stone-throwers. But the problem is one of presenting Israel's case with words, which is not as powerful as TV images;
"However," Meridor went on, "if there is a choice between the good PR that showed Israel as a
David against its Goliathlike Arab neighbors and Israel's security with bad PR, I'll take the bad PR."
And, he added, the main problem for Israel is not the inner circle of the intifada, but the outer circle — the large Arab states ' 'that don't recognize our right to exist. States like Syria and Iraq, with their sophisticated armies. And then there js Iran. All of this doesn't hit the TV screens."
Meridor said the possibility exists that the kidnapped Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid, the Hezbbol-lah leader, may at .some future date be put on trial.
"We kidnapped him because he is the head of Hezbollah. He i.s not an innocent man who just happened to be walking down the street. Hezbollah holds Israelis that they have kidnapped. But we have no sign as to whether they are dead or alive. We just don't
have the information."
Meridor was emphatic in reiterating the Israeli policy of not wanting imposed solutions. "We don't want
anything imposed. The only solution that is working is the one that was^de-veloped face to face by Sadat and Begin."
Proceeds from the dinner will go to the Eliane and Abe Charkow Chair in Nuclear Medicine at BGU's medical school.
esters
as
meet
VANCOUVER -
. While Dan Meridor spoke at "a dinner sponsored by the Vancouver Associates of Ben-Gurion University, about 50 protesters organized by the Canada. Palestine Association marched outside.
Hanna Kawas, president of the Canada Palestine Association, said, "It's an insuh to all Canadians that such a murderer as Meridor is here in Vancouver. His hands are bloody. There are <»50 pe<^e, civilians, behig killed in cold blood Just fOT throwfaig stcMoes.
The demonstrators carried the Palestinian flag and signs saying ' *No Canada aid to Israel," "No Peace without Palestinians,'' * 'Stop Financing Occupa-
tion" and "Zionism is Fascism."
Both Leo Marcus, of the Ben-Gurion Associates in Vancouver, and Mickie Angel, who helped organize a-press conference for Meridor, said that while the:y didn't see the demonstration, the group had a democratic right to demonstrate.
Moshe Ronen, chairman of the natimial executive of Canadian Jewish Congress^ who observed the demonstration, said that "while the events are dn^, it is a tribute to Isradi restrabt that only 650 people have been killed hi the pa^ 18 mcmths. IT Israel wanted to use its might to crush the intifada, there would be 650 in an hour. /
"We saw how China responded to riots, as well as how the Syrians responded to riots and even our own Canadian government brought in the War Measures Act and sent the army into the streets of Montreal when a problem arose with the FLQ."
Among other groups and individuals who co-sponsored the demonstration were the Canadian-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; the Conunittee to Support Palestinian Rights; El Salvador Inforr mation Committee; Henry Rosenthal, editor of Canadian Jewish Outlook; Jack Nichols, United Fishermen and Allied Woiicers Union; Jews for a Just Peace; Medical Aid for Palestine and Voice of Palestine.
G.P.
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