At the age of 18, Noa Ben-Artzi Pelossof entranced the world with her moving and personal eulogy for her grandfather, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish zealot.
Now 24 and studying government and law at Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, Pelossof is traveling through the U.S. speaking on behalf of the peace process her grandfather initiated. She will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday at Anshe Emet Synagogue, 3760 N. Pine Grove Ave., sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel in Chicago. Thursday is the eighth anniversary of the historic White House Lawn signing of the peace accords by Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that began the Oslo peace process.
Pelossof also is the daughter of Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, a member of the Knesset and the Deputy Minister of Defense.
Q. With such tensions and violence now, do you still think peace is possible?
A. As any other young Israeli who is hoping for a future in the country, I think that it’s a hard time. But again, as a young person, I am privileged to be optimistic. That’s due to the fact, and I think it was proven in the last eight years, that there is no other alternative but the peace process.
There is a tension, and mainly a change of mood, but you still go to university, you keep your routine. It’s not like the Gulf War. … It is terrorism in the streets. People have become living targets. That’s the thing a country cannot live with. When you establish a state, you promise security. But what’s the alternative? Even the leaders of, let’s say, the center and right, are not offering different alternatives but the peace process. They can argue about the timing, or about how it should be done. But it’s not a question that, in the end, we will meet the Palestinians around the negotiating table.
Q. Do you believe that even amid the suicide bombings?
A. We did not choose the Palestinians to be our enemies; they did not choose us. It’s rivalry. You don’t get to choose your enemies. Let’s be honest; it’s not like we’re crazy for them. We reach this peace process not out of great love for the Palestinians, but out of the understanding that they’re here to stay, and we’re here to stay. You cannot build reconciliation overnight. It’s a long process. You cannot blame them hating us. . . . You should look at the same time in the mirror at yourself. We don’t always love them. We gave them some good reasons to hate us, as they did us (to hate them). They say … they hate us. Well, of course. If they didn’t hate us, we would not have started the peace process. Q Do they hate you too much to ever truly accept the existence of Israel?
A. The PLO . . . recognizes the existence of the country. They have no other choice, like we have no other choice. … I’m not a politician. I’m not talking about what type of independent state or autonomy. But they are a fact, and we are a fact. Even with this horrible terrorism and violence going on, we are losing a lot of lives, but it’s not like the nation’s going to vanish. So violence is not the solution.
Q. Is moderation likely?
A. In everything, extremists’ voices are usually louder than their real existence. . . . There are crazy people from both sides. And there is loss of life on both sides. And the responsibility upon the majority–the people who want to live in peace … who want to have a normal life–and our responsibility as the representatives of sanity is to not let these extremists run the show.
I volunteered for this mission because I think our voices, of young Israelis, are not loud enough. I expect the other side to (speak out) also. We’re missing their voice. … I know they exist over there. It’s important for Israelis also to know of their existence, and for the world. And of course, for the Palestinians.
Q. Do Israelis feel isolated right now?
A. Growing up in a country which is surrounded by enemy states is an existence of isolation. When people live in the West and can take the car and drive to a different state, or to a different country in Europe, it’s hard for them to understand that you could not leave Israel until the early ’80s, when there was peace with Egypt. And you cannot continue from there anywhere by car. It is such a tiny country, and it is surrounded by enemies.
But what happened in Durban and around the world is frustrating. Our hand is waiting for the other side’s hand (to shake it); it’s hanging in the air.
But show me a different alternative. . . . With 53 years of existence, war did not solve the problem. One hundred years ago, it seemed almost impossible for Europe to be united. Let’s hope that 10 years from today, we’ll speak about the Middle East in the same way.
