Speech #900086690

Mr. President.. is a veritable seedbed for political violence. hate. and another war. The refugee problem does not lie simply in the field of economics. even though the hard core of refugees is composed of unskilled farmers and laborersindigestible commodities to countries such as Jordan. Egypt. and Syria. already saturated with unskilled and unlearned peasants. The problem is much deeper and in many respects has symbolized the basic ArabIsrael dispute. Until the events of the past few weeks. the Israeli position on the repatriation of the refugees was readily definable. Israels answer was the insistence that the refugee problem could only be dealt with as part of a peace treaty between the Arabs and Israel. This is now. in my view. neither appropriate nor enough. As we are all aware. for the Arabs to subscribe publicly to a formal agreement with Israel has been impossible. I am convinced by my experience and talks on this trip that the Arabs are as of now emotionally and politically incapable of a formalized peace agreement with Israel. Moreover. Israel has been reluctant to alter the demographic pattern of the country or to introduce a potential security threat by absorbing even a modest number of the refugees. For instance. in 1949 Israel first offered and then withdrew an offer to repatriate 100.000 refugees because it came to be regarded as a threat to permanence of the Jewish homeland. so long sought by a suffering and persecuted people. To many Arab political leaders. the perpetuation of the misery of the refugees was a powerful propaganda pawn in a game directed at the extermination of Israel. To the more moderate leaders. the option of repatriation and return or compensation for property was an important article of faith. Perhaps more important. the rights and the plight of the refugees symbolized a surging quest throughout the Arab world for not only justice for the refugees but for dignity and respect for the Arab. Both positions were appealingstrong moral arguments were mustered for both. But whatever chance existed for sensible discussion and possible resolution of the refugee problem was destroyed by strident voices of hate and fear. Given this impasse. it is no wonder that peace in the Middle East has been shattered every 10 years by brutal and senseless wars. And now there is a new and still larger refugee problem. As a result of Israels stunning military victories. the nature of the Palestine refugee problem has been profoundly altered. In the aftermath of this war. Israel has suddenly found itself. virtually overnight. in the position of having "repatriated." so to speak. more than a half a million refugees. For a country that once withdrew an offer to repatriate 100.000 refugees the sudden responsibility of acquiring five times that many must come as a shock. Its effect. however handled. will be profound. Many may consider the presence of over a half million refugees within the area occupied by Israel as a danger to Israel. In one sense. this is probably true. But in my view. these unfortunate victims of conflict are both a responsibility and an opportunity for Israel.