Dayan's Vision of Coexistence

Can the Israelis live peacefully with the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza Strip? Moshe Dayan believes they can. Shortly after he resigned as Israel's Foreign Minister, Dayan talked with TIME Jerusalem Bureau Chief Dean Fischer and Correspondent David Halevy about his private vision of the future relationship

I think there is no other practical way, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, than for the Israelis and the Arabs to live mixed together. Israel would keep its forces in these areas--to defend itself, not to interfere in the lives of the Palestinians. We would not drive them away, and we would not take from them a single acre of land. But we should have the right to settle where we choose if there is either state land or land to buy.

What even the most militant of the Palestinians want is to have open borders, to go freely to and from Israel. We would never support the idea of a corridor between the West Bank and Gaza. Why should there be one, when the people of Gaza and the West Bank can pass freely through Israel? The same is true of Jerusalem. Everyone now realizes that the partition of Jerusalem is not a solution. We have to live there together: a Jewish quarter here, an Arab quarter there; a Jewish area like Beersheba, an Arab area like Gaza. They must be mixed with one another.

What would be the status of Gaza and the West Bank? I don't know the term for it, but I know there will be two sovereign states in the area: Israel, with the old boundaries, and Jordan, to the east of the river. And in between there is an area that should be under the sovereignty of neither Israel nor Jordan. What I am insisting is that we Israelis should have the right to settle there, that we should not be considered foreigners, and that we should have the right to keep our forces there for our self-defense. I want to be able to go with my children and grandchildren to Jericho even as [West Bank Arabs] go to Natanya [in Israel]. The Arabs understand this. When the Egyptian delegation was here, they asked us to take them to the Horns of Hattin, where the Crusaders were defeated by Saladin. I can see their point.

If the people of an Arab village do not want us there, they should be allowed to live their entire lives without seeing a single Jew. That should be true even in Nablus. We would say: ''All right, you don't want Israeli tourists; we can live without visiting Nablus. But whether you like it or not, you have to accept that an Israeli will be allowed to buy land or even a house in Nablus if the owner wants to sell it. We are not foreigners here, and neither are you.''

The Israeli settlements would be a part of Israel. The Arab villages and towns could decide the nature of their relations with Jordan and with Israel. We would tell them: ''Gentlemen, do you want our health department, our doctors to help you? If not, that's fine, we have enough patients of our own. And do you want the experts from our Ministry of Agriculture to teach you? It's up to you.''

I don't want to decide the Palestinians' future, and neither do I want them to decide ours. They want a Palestinian state, and they absolutely don't want any Israeli ruling them; yet they do want open borders. We should start by giving a lot, by withdrawing the military administration, even though we get nothing in return. We would pull out our military forces, unless of course the P.L.O. took over and what we had planned as a peaceful region suddenly turned into a base for terrorism. Then, we would come back with a stronger force.

This is not a final destination, but it's a good milestone along the way. And even if the autonomy talks fail, about 90% of what I am describing we could do unilaterally. There never would have been open bridges between Israel and Jordan if we had waited for King Hussein's signature; not even Henry Kissinger could have negotiated that one. The Palestinians want peace and they're ripe for some kind of settlement. I'm convinced it can be done.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.