As tension between the United States and Iraq heightened as President George W. Bush’s 48-hour deadline passed yesterday, here at U of T, Professor Yaron Ezrahi of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem gave a public lecture on the issues surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict.
“If Saddam Hussein does not surrender by the time my lecture is over, President Bush will go to war. Perhaps we should extend this lecture,” Professor Ezrahi said lightheartedly.
Ezrahi is a member of the Department of Political Science at Hebrew University and a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. He is also the author of the bestsellers The Descent of Icarus: Science and the Transformation of Contemporary Democracy and Rubber Bullets: Power and Conscience in Modern Israel. His lecture, held at the Munk Centre for International Studies, was part of the annual Andrea and Charles Bronfman Lecture Series in Israeli Studies. Around 60 people attended, including a number of professors from the Political Science Department at U of T.
Professor Ezrahi raised the question of whether the current Arab-Israeli conflict could produce a new Israel. According to Ezrahi, a central problem is the undefined borders between the Israeli state and the Arab state. “No historians or religious leaders could agree what precisely were the borders of Israel …Israel became a borderless entity,” said Ezrahi. This, he argues, leads to problems between the army and the police. “In a normal country, the army is responsible for the security of external enemies and the police is supposed to deal with internal conflicts…but in Israel, we don’t know exactly what is internal and what is external, and it’s a very unhealthy situation.
“We have today rabbis who sound like generals and generals who sound like rabbis. Boundaries are necessary that must recognize the limits of military force.”
Ezrahi suggests two possible solutions. The first is to retain the status quo, which clearly does not resolve the problem. The other option is to divide the disputed lands into two states, either through an agreed boundary resolution between the Arabs and Israelis or an imposed settlement.
“If the second option is followed…it means that for the first time since 1948, Israel will have fixed boundaries,” said Ezrahi.
Such a resolution, according to Ezrahi, would restore balance, diminish the role of religion in Israel’s foreign policy, and let Israeli soldiers know what they are fighting for—their defined homeland. In addition, “the borders will make a healthy division to the distinction between the Israeli army and the police,” said Ezrahi.
Ezrahi personally believes a solution to the Arab-Israel conflict is achievable. “An agreement is possible to maintain the dignity of the Arabs and the security of the Israelis. We should be optimistic, because otherwise, nothing will ever come out of it.”
