Israel has much to offer the global community, according to trainee diplomats from the Middle Eastern state.
On a recent visit to Dublin, Hezi Keinan and Efrat Perri, who recently started their five-year training with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said one of their aims is to challenge the negative perception of Israel over its conflict with Palestine.
“Israel has many, many things to offer… we are very enriching nation,” said Keinan. “We are only 64 years old, as you know, but we have many achievements in many, many fields.”
Keinan believes such positive things do not get much press in Europe, but media in many other nations, including in Africa, “publish many good things about Israel” such as its achievements in agriculture.
“We contribute a lot to science and development in Africa and all over the world” and help others to improve their economies and skills, he said. “Unfortunately in Europe sometimes these things do not get in the headlines.
“So we are only getting the linkages with the bad news and not with good things in Israel. And this is the main thing we have to change.”
The trainee diplomats urged the Irish media to present fair and balanced facts when reporting on Israel.
Specifically on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Perri said that the state of Israel has always wanted – and still wants – peace, and that they are optimistic peace will be achieved.
But one of the stumbling blocks towards achieving piece is what she described as a lack of leadership and commitment to achieving peace on the Palestinian side.
“[We need] a leader that would have the courage to unite the Palestinians – who are not united right now, and that’s part of the problem – so that they could speak with one voice.”
She added: “We as Israelis want the Palestinians to have good lives, to have jobs, and that they are able to take their children to school [and] have a safe and happy life. And we also want that for ourselves and we believe that both nations, both people, can live that way.”
Keinan said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated its readiness to begin negotiations with the Palestinians, but without any pre-conditions.
“We are neighbours, we don’t have any other place to go, not the Palestinians and not the Jewish people,” he said. “We want to stay there, both people, both nations, and we have to find a way to live together.
“To tell the truth, they are the best neighbours we could ask for, most of the Palestinians.”
Asked how they would compare present-day Palestinian society to the time of Yasser Arafat in the 1980s and 1990s, they shared their belief that Palestinians are now more open and more willing to accept Israel as their neighbours – and that hardline groups such as Hamas are not representative of many Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
