by Katrina Hall
Staff Writer
According to Ido Aharoni, consul for Communications and Public Affairs for the Consulate General of Israel, living in the United States of America, citizens are blessed compared to other countries, not having to wake up in the morning wondering who might invade California tomorrow.
“You (Americans) take it for granted that you have a state, that you have a country, that your boundaries are defended and defendable because of a strong military present,” said Aharoni, who spoke in La Fetra Hall at the University of La Verne April 1 about “The Israel-Arab Peace Process: An Insider’s Perspective.”
He started his speech by telling the audience how he received news a few hours earlier that a suicide bomber was on his way to bomb a school bus full of girls, but it backfired, blowing him up shortly before he reached the bus.
“I feel very lucky that I am standing here today and I will not have to report a number of casualties or fatalities, but this is something we have to live with in the Middle East everyday,” he said.
Five elements he discussed started with the realization on the part of Arab leaders in the Middle East that Israel had no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conflict dates to 1948. In November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 181 which initiated the establishment of a bi-national homeland in Israel for two people-the Jewish citizens and the Arabs citizens.
The plan was accepted by Jewish leadership, but rejected by the Arab leadership. This caused an attack on 600,000 Israelis by seven countries. Although the Jewish settlement had the military power of 1 million people and was well-trained and well-equipped, they doubted the ability to come out victorious and were defeated,according to Aharoni
Then in 1973, Aharoni said, Israel was attacked by Egypt and Syria, a war Israel lost.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) took responsibility for the massacre of 11 Israel athletes in the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 and the massacre of elementary school girls a year later.
But in 1974, the PLO pledged to add a new dimension to its work which was the diplomatic effort and in 1979, Israel and Egypt signed the first Peace treaty ever between Israel and an Arab country.
The second element was the end of Arab Unity. Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, was a member of the Baath Party, established in northern Africa in the 1930s. The party believed that there was Arab unity, coordination and legitimacy. But in August 1990, Hussein invaded Kuwait and became the ruler of 26 percent of the world’s oil industry.
The collapse of the Soviet Union was the third element Aharoni addressed. “The financial, the military, the anthological support that the Arab world gave to our history disappeared. It left Arab leaders isolated.”
He said that at this time, Syria was planning to attack Israel, but did not have the USSR to back it militarily or financially. So Syria had nothing to gain.
The fourth element was the technological advancement and the qualitative gap for Israel. It brought a dramatic change.
“The National Security League was defined by two things: the more land you had the more resources you needed to defend that land, and the size of your military force and military ability,” Aharoni said.
“I don’t know how many of you know that Israel is considered one of the leading forces in the world of high-tech today,” said Aharoni.
He continued, saying, leaders in the Arab world must ask themselves whether they should purchase more to defeat Israel momentarily or are they going to take the money and invest it into their children’s education. It’s a dramatic change in the definition of what is National Security today which is not only a military force.
“You have to supplement it with a strong economy, strong society and the ability to fully absorb intellectual resources,” said Aharoni. “This is how the world operates going into the 21st century.”
The demographic gap between Jews and Arabs was also significant. The state of Israel has a population of 5.7 million citizens of which 4.8 million are Jewish. The average Israeli woman bears 2.6 children in a lifetime and the average Palestinian woman brings forth 5.7 children in a lifetime.
Information of the Revolution had been negotiating with the Syrians for the past few years. Syrian behavior was to be analyzed. It brought forth the Black Market where satellite dishes were being purchased for the price of $200 to $300 each. That is the fifth element.
Aharoni holds a bachelor’s degree in film and television, sociology and anthropology from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree in mass communications, emphasis on visual anthropology, from Emerson College in Boston, Mass.
