As Ahmadinejad Rages at UN, Baskin Offers Hope

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Jews have no historical roots in the Middle East and that the existence of Israel is just a passing phase.

The tireless peace activist Gershon Baskin suggests in his Jerusalem Post column that “There is a way out.” His article concludes as follows:

One of the options on the table is the Conference on the Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone. This may not be the mechanism that has the power to prevent an Iranian bomb, but it is a global international effort at reaching toward what should be an Israeli goal for security of itself and the region: a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. This will not happen overnight and will not happen as the result of a conference in December 2012, but it is part of a process that Israel must be part of.

This issue is not on the agenda of public discourse in Israel, but it must be. How can we accept that our government refuses to attend an international conference, proposed by the United States, convened by the Finnish government under UN auspices, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, aimed at creating a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction? Can we allow ourselves the luxury of not participating? Can we allow ourselves the possibility that Iran will be there and we will not be there? Can we allow ourselves the possibility that Iran will not be there, but we could be there? Can we allow ourselves the possibility of missing an opportunity to speak directly to the Iranians if they will be there and we will also be there? As we constantly tell the Palestinians, you cannot end a conflict by not talking.