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INBRIEF
MIDEASf TREAn':
PEACEOR
EMPTYPROMISES?
by
Stanley R. Radar
PASADENA, Dec:ember
15,
1978:
Just one week ago
1
was visiting with
Arab friends in Bethlehem, Judea.
Today,
1
read the headlines of my
morning paper and they cry out:
" lranian Riots Extend Year of Holy
War"; "Negotiations Shaky as
Vanee Returns Home"; "Christmas
Eve Finds Hope and Fear Around
the World." Yet other headlines pro–
claim: "Christmas Glows with the
Spirit of Love"; " Pilgrims Flock to
Christ 's Birthplace"; "President Car–
ter Thankful."
But unfortunately this day once
again portends for mankind more
fear than hope, more sadness than ju–
bilation. Why must this be so? Why
can we find no solution to the prob–
lems that have plagued mankind for
the past 6,000 years? The answers
are simple, but are neither discerned
by the many nor heeded by the few
who are fortunate enough to be privy
to them.
Man has rejected God, God's way
of life and His laws. And for 6,000
years man has tried to build bis own
civi lization in accordance with his
own ideas about right and wrong,
with bis own list of priorities and bis
own concepts of government, educa–
tion, religion and law.
During our week in Israel, Herbert
W. Armstrong and 1 discussed the
progress of the peace negotiations be–
tween our lsraeli and Egyptian
friends- negotiations that were ap–
parently all but concluded three
months ago at Camp David; negotia–
tions that followed in the wake of
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1979
President Anwar Sadat's much-her–
alded visit to Jerusalem some 13
months ago; negotiations that were to
be reduced to a final peace treaty on
or before December 17, 1978 (the
very day our official schedule in Je–
rusalem was to begin).
But it was not to be
so.
During the
90-day period following Camp Da–
vid, problems between the two na–
tions appeared- problems that the
two Nobel Prize-winning leaders
could not resolve, despite pressure
from U.S . President Jimmy Carter
and
bis
secretary of state, Cyrus
Vanee.
Wby? Because, as Mr. Armstrong
told Prime Minister Menachem
Be–
gin, Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan,
leader of the opposition Labor Party
Shimon Peres and others, man has
been operating on a "get" rather
than a "give" principie- a "get"
principie that must surely lead to a
breakdown of negotiations and to
more violence, more conftict, more
greed, more hatred and unhappiness,
not only in Israel and in Cairo, but in
the entire world.
What are the specific dift'erences
that have appeared since the Camp
David accords- accords that led the
Nobel prize committee to award
jointly to President Sadat and Prime
Minister Begin the Nobel Peace
Prize for 1978? There are many spe–
cific dift'erences, but all involve one
major point:
Does
Egypt intend to
enter into a
real
peace treaty with its
neigbbor Israel? Naturally, wben the
representatives of the two parties be-
gan to negotiate some months ago,
they were justifiably concerned with
the bona fide intentions of tbeir
counterparts. Many treaties between
nations bave been broken in a sum–
mary and unilateral fashion, and the
resulting havoc has cost the lives of
multiple millions.
Israel has been concerned from the
beginning that any peace treaty must
be entered into with the utmost good
faith by the government of Egypt.
Under no circumstances can Israel
consent to giving up territories in the
Suez and the West Bank (in addition
to the Gaza Strip) unless the treaty
with Egypt would have precedence
over any prior obligations of the
Egyptian government to neighboring
states. Treaties do exist that call for
Egyptian participation in the event
other Arab states should enter into
armed conftict with Israel.
The lsraelis claim that the Egyp–
tians have failed to make it apparent
to all that a peace treaty with Israel
would take precedence over all other
existing treaties, limiting Egypt's
obligations to its Arab neighbors un–
der those treaties to situations where
Israel is "the aggressor." But, the ls–
raeli experience has been, and the
world must remember, that Israel
wben attacked has been Jabeled by
those attacking and others in the
United Nations as the aggressor, de–
spite all evidence to the contrary.
Israel knows that
it
cannot aft'ord to
lose its security in exchange for empty
promises.lsrael also knows thatit can–
not aft'ord to lose evenonewar. Hence,
all the more reason for the lsraelis to
beconcerned that the Egyptians mean
to enter into a real peace treaty, not a
treaty of"non-peace."
We wonder how much, if at all ,
these various leaders of the belea–
guered State of Israel, in their efforts
to find a just, equitable and real
peace with their neighbors, will heed
Mr. Armstrong's warning that only
the "give" principie will produce the
results they so eagerly have antici–
pated for 31 years.
Only God's Jaws, laws based upon
1ove of God and love of neighbor, will
permit what all peop1e of goodwill so
avidly yearn for- peace and prosper–
ity, health and happiness for people
everywhere.
o
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