Shimon Peres, the former prime minister of Israel, was introduced to a San Francisco breakfast gathering last week as “not a man of the past, and not even a man of the present. He’s a man of the future.”
Not surprisingly, the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize winner followed that introduction — made by Daniel Shek, the S.F.-based Israeli consul general — by looking far into the future in his analysis of the peace process.
“The idea of making peace with Syria is that this will bring us to peace with the rest of the Middle East, with the exception of Iran, Iraq and Libya,” Peres told an audience of nearly 100 at an invitation-only event Jan. 14 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.
“If we reach an agreement with Syria, the Saudis will follow suit,” he said, never slowing down to mention what a big “if” that is.
Peres, who was in the Bay Area for four days last week, has a habit of always looking forward. Then again, that’s what it takes to be a visionary who helped engineer the Oslo accords in 1993, when he was Israel’s foreign minister. For that effort, he, Yasser Arafat and the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize.
“If I had a choice, I would stop teaching our children history,” he told an audience of about 50 during an Israel Bonds luncheon at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel on Jan. 11. “It’s best to teach them vision and imagination. There is so little to remember. History is full of hatred and confrontation. It’s the story of blood and war.”
Peres, 76, didn’t allow time for one-on-one interviews last week, but in one quick exchange with a reporter, he was asked if he would be interested in the Israeli presidency if the embattled Ezer Weizman is forced out. Peres’ name has cropped up as a possible replacement.
“I don’t have any comment on that,” he replied as a steady stream of admirers approached him to shake hands. “We have a president and we don’t need another one. Instead of assuming he will resign, assume he wants to remain.”
Peres visited the Bay Area from Jan. 11 through early Saturday morning, but he managed to cram a lot of activity into roughly 96 hours.
In addition to talking to two predominantly Jewish audiences, Peres was booked for a different public lecture series each night of his stay, speaking at auditoriums in San Francisco, San Mateo, San Rafael and Cupertino. He also spoke to several gatherings of business and Silicon Valley leaders, and met with some government officials.
On Jan. 11, in the San Francisco office of Gov. Gray Davis, he signed a joint declaration that seeks to boost trade between California and Israel as well as its Mideast neighbors. The agreement was forged during a Davis trip to the Middle East in October.
Peres currently serves as Israel’s minister of regional cooperation and spends much of his energy in trying to drum up economic development.
He became head of the Labor Party in 1977 and lost two campaigns for prime minister to Likud’s Menachem Begin. Following indecisive election results in 1984, he served half of a 50-month term in a coalition government, splitting his term with Likud’s Yitzhak Shamir.
After Rabin’s assassination in 1995, Peres took over as prime minister again. In 1996, he was narrowly defeated by Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu.
Peres took a small shot at the Likud Party during his Jan. 14 talk, which was attended mainly by people who work in the Jewish community. It was co-sponsored by two S.F.-based organizations, the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Jewish Community Federation.
“The refusal to give up on the Golan is the only item that keeps the Likud alive,” Peres charged. “More than the Golan needs the Likud, the Likud needs the Golan.”
Reacting to the protests last week in Tel Aviv, where thousands voiced their opposition to turning over the Golan Heights to Syria, Peres said, “I think we shall have a majority in spite of this.”
However, he admitted, the passage of a proposed referendum on whether Israel should return the Golan to Syria is by no means assured. That’s especially true if Israeli Arabs participate in the vote — a hot-button issue in Israel right now. Peres added that there is talk about not allowing Israeli Arabs to vote on the measure.
“Labor and its alliances are suggesting that the majority of people who vote regularly can make a decision,” he said, stressing that most Israeli Arabs don’t vote regularly. “The minority in this case can hold back the referendum.”
But then again, Peres said, “Citizens are citizens, and they have a right to vote. The Knesset hasn’t decided what to do yet. It’s a touch-and-go situation.”
Peres was asked what will happen when peace arrives and Israeli Jews will no longer be united against external enemies. Will the internal struggles then be inflamed even more than they are now?
“There is nothing wrong with having good relations between secular and religious people. You have it in the United States,” he said.
“But politics is the art of compromising. You have to compromise among the different beliefs and views. Religion is different. It’s uncompromising. So [religion] shouldn’t come into politics.”
What’s needed in Israel, he said, “is to organize our life in a way that is secular and let the religious people live in respect and tolerance without any attempt to push their agenda.”
Responding to international concerns, Peres defended Israel’s selling arms to China. He was pressed on the issue by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-S.F.) after his speech at the Israel Bonds luncheon.
President Clinton “decided to make China a member of the World Trade Organization, and many businesses are going there,” Peres said. Moreover, he added, Britain and France are willing to sell warplanes to China. “How will the world be a safer place if they buy it from the English or French? Why do we not have the right to compete?
According to Peres, Pelosi told him: “I appreciate your honesty.”