(Jerusalem Post) David Kimche - During a visit to Abu Dhabi, I entered into an animated discussion on the rights and wrongs of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with one of the most influential persons in the United Arab Emirates, a former minister. There had been no hatred, not even animosity, just a profound ignorance, a complete lack of understanding of the Israeli story, a refusal to believe that we really do want to live in peace with our Arab neighbors. Gulf Arabs are curious about Israel. They want to know our secret, how a small nation had succeeded in winning war after war against the Arab armies and become such a thriving and wealthy state despite the lack of oil reserves. At the Arab Strategy Forum, a conference that took place in Dubai last week, the most malicious anti-Israeli statement was not made by an Arab but by an American professor of international law who described Israel as "a genocidal apartheid regime."
2004-12-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive