Palestinian Official Calls for Peace

Afif Safieh, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s mission to the United States, told a full audience at the Institute of Politics last night that the current Palestinian governing coalition represents a crucial moment for the Middle East peace process.

“Today we have a window of opportunity that I invite the world to explore and to exploit,” he said.

Safieh, a member of the secular Fatah party, said yesterday that his party’s coalition with Hamas has increased Palestinian political support for a peace accord with Israel.

“Hamas accepted to offer the Israelis, with us, a possible ceasefire,” Safieh said. “We need this coalition to succeed.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert re-opened peace negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, after Hamas agreed on March 15 to govern in a coalition with Fatah.

Western governments had boycotted the Hamas government because of its ties to terrorist groups and its refusal to recognize Israel.

Last night, Safieh urged the U.S. to play an active and even-handed role in the peace process, and he advocated friendly relations between the U.S. and Arab nations.

“It has been said that Israel is the only friend America has in the Arab world, but before Israel you had no enemies,” he said. “Non-alignment should be what characterizes American foreign policy.”

Safieh also said he believes Americans, if given the chance, would support a more friendly stance toward Palestinian interests.

“I have seen American politicians campaigning more in Tel Aviv than in Tennessee,” Safieh added. “What is America’s interest in Israel keeping the hilltops of the West Bank?”

Condemning Palestinian suicide bombings, Safieh urged more compassion for Palestinian victims of Israeli military actions.

“Whoever does not condemn Israeli military incursions...is not morally qualified to have an opinion on suicide bombing,” he said, drawing applause from part of the audience. “It’s Israel that occupies Palestine, not Palestine that occupies Israel.”

Israeli and Arab campus groups reacted favorably to the talk, though they disagreed about Safieh’s policy recommendations.

Ruti Landé, president of the Israel Caucus at the Kennedy School, said that she appreciated Safieh’s respect for opposing views.

“I admire and respect his call for peace,” she said.

Nonetheless, Landé said she disagreed with Safieh’s assertion that Hamas would be a good partner in negotiations.

“The acceptance of the existence of Israel by Hamas is an essential building block...to even begin talking,” she said.

Nadia O. Gaber ’09, president of the Harvard Society of Arab Students and a Crimson editorial editor, said Safieh’s even-handed approach impressed her.

“He was so reasonable,” she said. “I think everyone in attendance really thought that he was an incredible speaker.”

Safieh has served as Palestinian general delegate to the United Kingdom and to the Holy See, and he was a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs from 1985 to 1987.