2008 Woodie Awards
Israeli ambassador discusses terrorism
BRAIN MINK
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: News
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"I think in this globalized community you can't say anymore, 'This is a Middle Eastern conflict and I have nothing to do with it,'" Mansour said to The Red & Black.
"This is not about good and bad. ... It's a struggle between moderate people on both sides who are trying to fight extremism."
Earlier, Mansour ate lunch with Dawgs for Israel, a student-led organization working to strengthen support for Israel on campus, and spoke to Randy Sturman's religion class, "Israelis and Palestinians: Two Cultures in Conflict."
The peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians represent a "second chance" for peace after negotiations fell apart in 2000, he said.
Mansour said the Palestinian leadership seems open to the possibility of recognizing Israel's right to exist as home of the Jewish people, a key point for Israel to hold up peace talks unless it is met. He added concession would likely come in the end of negotiations.
A major challenge facing Palestine, however, is the numerous factions vying for control of leadership, he said.
"Hamas is definitely saying that everyone who went to the conference doesn't have any legitimate backing back home," Mansour said. Hamas "can't theologically even recognize Israel."
Americans tend to have a skewed impression of everyday life in the Middle East because of media reports, he said.
Life in Israel's cities "is as normal as it can get. Standard of living is as high as it is in the suburbs of Atlanta," he said. Mansour said understanding of Israel's positions has increased worldwide with the increase of global terrorism.
"People understand now what is the meaning of living in a country that is dealing with terrorism," he said, noting security at U.S. airports frequently is tighter than in Israel.
Mansour said though spreading democracy is a key to creating peaceful allies in the Middle East, America is learning the first step should not be free elections.
"The way to promote (democracy) is really to look at human rights issues," he said. "You have to help them revive civil society" and reform school curricula, he said.
Women's rights issues and random suicide bombings in countries such as Iraq that kill predominantly Muslims are causing Arabs in the Middle East to resent terrorism, he said.
"Dictatorships need wars to justify their existence," Mansour said. "They need a boogeyman to explain why people ... need to live in poverty like that."
Mansour said Israel made large gains in combating terrorism due in large part to the construction of a security fence along its border with Palestinian settlements and proactive approaches in stopping terrorism.
More countries need to focus on beating terrorism at its source, he said.
"I think every country in the future will have to be that vigilant in terms of fighting terrorism," he said. "The same way that good people are globalizing, the bad people are globalizing."
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