From: cpr@igc.apc.org (Center for Policy Research)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: israel
Date: 5 Jan 93 09:01:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #R:1992Dec27.1777.21630@channel1:969351930:cdp:1483500315:000:3233
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cpr    Jan  5 01:01:00 1993


1. Center for Policy Research is a focal point for debate, peace work
and documentation. Is it a privately held and financed initiative run by
myself and assisted by many sympathizers on an ad hoc base.

2. The address of the Center is Post Box 1760, 121 Reykjavik, Iceland

3. You ask if I acknowledge Israel's right to exist.
    I have written a paper on this subject. Basically I don't think
    any state has an inherent right to exist, as such rights cannot be
     inferred from any legal base. Only peoples/nations have rights
      to exist, as you can glean from the UN Charter, recognizing the
     rights of peoples to self-determination. It is however within
   the realm of international laws and the Charter to respect the
     territorial integrity of states, including that of the State of Israel.
    For such respect to become possible, Israel will have to define its
    borders, or at least make clear claims for definte borders, which
    it has not done since its establishment in 1948.

4. Lest you thin that I wish to avoid the question, I suspect that
   what you meant to ask is that whether I accepted the right of existence
   of Israel AS A JEWISH STATE. In fact this is what many people mean
   by this question although  seldom explicited.

   NO. I oppose as a matter of principle Jewish, muslim, catholic or
    other religiously or ethnically-determined states. If Israel would
   constitute itself as the state of all its inhabitants, as a sovereign
    and independent state, where religion and state is separate, I will
    have no objection. I think it is a joke when American Jews or
    better Jewish Americans struggle for the strict separation of
    state and religion in the US while supporting racist Israel.

5. The State of Israel will continue to face security problems as a
   matter of course as long as it is perceived as an expansionist and
   militaristic danger to the Arabs. Israel's refusal to define its
   ultimate borders, its numerous pre-emptive attacks on Arab territories,
   its refusal to relinquish conquered areas and its active sollicitation
   of Jewish immigration and demographic change, are perceived as
   threats. No wonder. I don't go so far and maintain that Arab regimes
    are peacemongers. They are gross offenders of human rights and none
    of them is democratic. But the Arab people (as distinct from 
   governments) cannot but see the injustice done by the Zionist state
   to the Palestinians. This injustice has to be reparied by the Zionists
   if peace can prevail. Peace will not come from the guns.

6.	   As a matter of fact, I am not a great  supporter of a
   mini-Palestinian state. I think that it might be a good idea, at least
     as a confidence-building measure, until Israel and Palestine can both
    join a Middle-Eastern Federation. But I think, like many other
    Palestinians, that the State of Palestine, should be as much as
   possible demilitarized. Not that I fear Palestine to constitute a 
   danger to Israel, but that Palestine needs its resources for more
   constructive purposes. I also think that Israel should put efforts
   in finding other ways to peace than arms.

Thanks and best regards,
Elias Davidsson
Xref: sparky talk.politics.mideast:24677 soc.culture.jewish:24553 talk.politics.soviet:10223 soc.history:10540