Dr. Daniel Pipes gave his much-anticipated lecture to a crowded Chapel Monday evening. His talk, titled, "The Palestinian-Israeli War: Where Did it come from, where is it going?" addressed several issues of the well known conflict and suggested the terms needed for any form of resolution. Pipes stated, "the way to deal with this threat is to defeat it." Pipes is the director of the Middle East forum and a prize-winning columnist for the New York Post and the Jerusalem Post. He has taught at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the U.S. Naval War College.
Pipes' first conclusion is that there is indeed a war being waged between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and that the two possible resolutions to this war is the dissolution of the state of Israel, or the recognition of the existence of Israel by the Palestinians. Pipes does not see Israel failing after surviving for the last 50 plus years, and compared the likelihood of Israel ceasing to exist to the chances that France will suddenly disband as a nation. Pipes sees the only plausible solution being recognition of the state of Israel by the Palestinians, a solution he feels is at least 30 years away.
Pipes went on to discuss the uselessness of attempting to establish boarders between the two groups when one fails to acknowledge the existence of the other, the problems he feels the Oslo accords created as opposed to solving, and the futility of governments signing Peace treaties with the Israelis when their citizens are not behind them. " The problem is not governments," Pipes argues, "the problem is populations, it's a matter of working with governments to bring their populations along."
