Former Israeli ambassador to EU speaks on Israel's stances on conflict

By Cindy Dinh     2/26/09 6:00pm

Oded Eran, former Israeli ambassador to the European Union, spoke on campus last Friday about the status of the Israeli-Arab conflict and the process of international negotiations. The lunch and lecture, entitled "The Peace Process in the Middle East," sought to address these issues from an Israeli official's perspective.

Eran is currently the director of the Institute for National Security Studies after an extensive career in Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as Israel's ambassador to Jordan and as the head of Israel's negotiations team with the Palestinians until 2000.

During the lecture, Eran said Israel's ethnic composition is diverse, with 20 percent of the population Russian, 20 percent Orthodox Jews and 20 percent consisting of Israelis of Arab origin who, he said, have the same full rights as any other Israeli. He said with so many different groups, it would be difficult to adopt a two-part electoral system similar to the United States' system.

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"Many parties [in Israel] call for reform in the electoral system to make it more stable," he said.

Following a recent election in Israel in early February, Eran said the issues the new government will need to focus on are relations with both Arabs and the rest of the world, including Iran.

"Before a peace process, we need to deal with Iranian nuclear effort and military effort," Eran said. "Iranians have accumulated enough raw material to produce the bomb. The threat is not only to Israel but to Arab gulf states."

Though there have been three different Security Council resolutions to stop Iran, none have encouraged Iran to reconsider their choices, he said.

"Nuclear capability, coupled with anti-Israeli ideology, is a threat," he said. "I believe the Iranians are as rational as anyone else and would consider the cost-benefit of what they're doing, and hopefully will make the right decision."

Another issue of importance is the contention in Jerusalem, which Eran said is home to shrines in the Dome of the Rock as well as the remains of two Jewish temples. This is a region loaded with history and emotion, he said.

"Literally, before the war in 1967, Gaza was under Egypt and the West Bank was under Jordan," Eran said. If Israel returns to the 1967 demarcations, "I think [it] would destroy the city which is sacred to three separate religions."

Eran then called for a clear demarcation line to define territories.

"There has to be a physical border between the state of Palestine and the state of Israel, for security reasons," he said. "Palestinians want it, and I want it. "

He stressed how complicated it would be to solve the territorial problem, offering examples of what happened in the past. In his career, Eran has helped negotiate 57 peace agreements, of which three are implemented.

"Cold peace is better than hot war," he said.

Eran recommended that countries focus on gradual, realistic goals instead of a comprehensive catch-all solution.

"I would propose partial solutions in the West Bank and leave it for the time being," he said.

The slow progress in establishing a common consensus stems from the political figures in the region, he said.

"[With the] king of Jordan, King Hussein, there are the leaders with the courage to go for [negotiation]," Ewan said.

Eran said the problems with Palestinians began with Yasser Arafat, who believed he was a prophet.

"He couldn't bring himself to put his name to go down in history as someone who compromised with the Jewish, or Sunnis, or whoever," Eran said.

One question from the audience asked how the U.S. should play a role in negotiation talks.

Understandings must be reached by the immediate parties involved, he said, including an example of how initial talks between Israel and Egypt were secretive and unknown to the U.S.

"You need the U.S. as a player which the two sides approach when they cannot reach an understanding," he said.

The event was sponsored by Owls for Israel, the Consulate of Israel in Houston and the Baker Institute Student Forum with the intention to shed light on another perspective on these highly-debated topics.

Owls for Israel is an unofficial student group founded after the Gaza Panel held on campus last month.

"We felt there was not enough of the Israeli perspective on campus," Daniel Ledeen, a Sid Richardson College senior and member of Owls for Israel, said. "This lecture was part of our mission to bring speakers to campus that can educate the community on the Israeli point of view.

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