Mid-East peace.

• Author: Schindler, Sol
• Position: Peace negotiations in the Middle East

Because of Secretary Kerry's perseverance and industry we shall soon see three international conferences underway, all attempting to pacify different corners of the Middle East. Those of us who have run laps around those corners these last few years may wish him well and hold our skepticism in check. But it would be marvelous indeed if he were proven absolutely right and this writer, for example, absolutely wrong. We would all marvel and applaud. But to return to reality, the odds are greatly against any of the three conferences coming to a successful conclusion.

The most ill-fated appears to be the one between the Israelis and the Palestinians. What, one wonders, can they possibly say to each other that has not already been said during the past sixty-five years of on and off again negotiations? The Israelis want to be recognized as a Jewish state. The Palestinians refuse. There are, of course, dozens of other issues they can disagree on, but the existential issue, the one that dams up any exchange of ideas or the flow of negotiations is the existence and character of the Jewish state. It appears that until this issue is resolved there can be no peace.

It is true that two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, have recognized Israel and established diplomatic relations with it. In Egypt's case Anwar Sadat realized early on, perhaps with a little assistance from Secretary Kissinger, that Russian arms alone could not bring the Sinai back to Egypt. He realized also that to get the Israelis to do something they might be reluctant to do it would be helpful to do something they would appreciate. Since most of the world already recognized Israel it seemed inevitable that the Arab countries would do so also. Egypt thus recognized Israel and received its conquered province back without the bloodshed yet another war would entail.

Jordan, despite or possibly because a good portion of its population comes from Palestine, has never had good relations with the P.L.O. They even had a short war in 1970 as the Jordanians beat off the PLO's attempt to take over the country. Thus when Egypt, the largest Arab country and their most powerful neighbor recognized Israel, a country they had often had constructive dealings with (in the afore mentioned 1970 war it was Israeli threats that prevented a Syrian invasion), they followed suit. But that is as far as current diplomatic relations go. Most of the Arab world does not recognize Israel and the Palestinians feel...