Israeli Activist Offers New Proposal for Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

Avraham Burg, an author and former chairman of the Jewish Agency of Israel, offered a new model for approaching Israeli-Palestinian relations at a talk sponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Burg spoke Tuesday evening in Tsai Auditorium as part of a series on the Samuel L. and Elizabeth Jodidi Lectures, which are meant to promote global tolerance and world peace.

Burg argued that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is not about real estate, but about cyclic politics and history. He stated that behind the conflict rests a deeply rooted psycho-political tension, in which two national traumas compete with one another.

Both Israel and Palestine have generated national identities that are contingent upon there being an external enemy, Burg claimed. On the one hand is an Israeli national identity born out of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust, and on the other, a Palestinian identity centered largely upon the ‘Nakba,’ the widespread displacement of Palestinians from their national homeland. According to Burg, if peace is to be achieved, both nations need to move beyond their respective traumas.

“If we want peace, both sides need to engage with the question of what the prices of integration are,” he said.

Burg also spoke about the current political environment in the Middle East, one that he believes is undergoing a rapid process of national and regimental restructuring. These circumstances, Burg asserted, provide an opportune breeding ground for a mutual reconsideration of the status-quo with internal reflection among all parties.

Burg presented a three-pronged proposal to confront the reality facing Israelis and Palestinians today. First, he reccomended an inclusive discourse about fundamental civic rights to all those affected in Israel and Palestine, second, a practical approach to a two-state solution founded upon a mutually recognized moral-legal system, and third, a seamless cooperation between both nations that seeks to bolster their respective goals.

The audience, comprised of faculty, students, and members of the community, expressed conflicting reactions to Burg’s arguments.

“I think his ideas are important in moving beyond the current reality and politics,” said Salma Abu Ayyash, a Palestinian national and local resident of Cambridge. “I’m still disappointed that he would not confront this idea of colonialism. He is minimizing the whole idea of territory.”

An Israeli student in Winthrop House, Moriya Blumenfeld ’16, took a different stance.

“We won’t find a common ground unless we expose ourselves to all the opinions and try to reach somewhere in the middle,” Blumenfeld said. “He is thinking outside the box, and at this point, we need someone who thinks outside of the box.”