From War to Peace

Security, normalized interactions, acceptance of Israel in the region, the right of Palestinian self determination, and the role of Egypt and Israel in the newly emerging Middle East setting were topics of discussion at a historical meeting which took place in May 1979, in Cairo. About a dozen intellectuals from Israel and Egypt met to discuss these and related issues. We, the authors of this article were invited to participate as third-party facilitators. We concluded that the peace process will continue to encounter difficulties although many positive steps have already taken place. Egyptian and Israeli participants in the May meeting were pessimistic about the chances of widespread societal reconciliation and interaction between Arabs and Israelis. On the question of acceptance of Israel into the region, the participants agreed that acceptance is psychopolitically satisfactory but operationally very unlikely in the near future. All the participants agreed on the right of Palestinian self-determination, but disagreed on how to make it a reality.