This week, the prime minister of Canada made a dramatic statement in Parliament: He apologized to the indigenous peoples of his country for the injustices done to them for generations by successive Canadian governments.
Apologizing for past wrongs has become a part of modern political culture.
The president of France has apologized on behalf of his people for the misdeeds of the Vichy regime, which turned Jews over to the Nazi exterminators. The Czech government has apologized to the Germans for the mass expulsion of the German population at the end of World War II. Germany, of course, has apologized to the Jews for the unspeakable crimes of the Holocaust. Quite recently, the government of Australia has apologized to the Aborigines. And even in Israel, a feeble effort was made to heal a grievous domestic wound, when Ehud Barak apologized to the Oriental Jews for the discrimination they have suffered for many years.
But we face a much more difficult and complex problem. It concerns the roots of our national existence in this country. I believe that peace between us and the Palestinian people — a real peace, based on real conciliation — starts with an apology.
In my mind’s eye I see the president or the prime minister of Israel addressing a special extraordinary session of the Knesset and making a historic speech on the following lines:
Madam Speaker, Honorable Knesset,
On behalf of the State of Israel and all its citizens, I address today the sons and daughters of the Palestinian people, wherever they are.
We recognize the fact that we have committed against you a historic injustice, and we humbly ask your forgiveness.
When the Zionist movement decided to establish a national home in this country, it had no intention of building our state on the ruins of another people. The burning desire of the founding fathers of this movement was to save the Jews of Europe.
The Zionist founders who came to this country were pioneers who carried in their hearts the most lofty ideals. They believed in national liberation, freedom, justice and equality. We are proud of them. They certainly did not dream of committing an injustice of historic dimensions.
All this does not justify what happened afterward. The creation of the Jewish national home in this country has involved a profound injustice to you, the people who lived here for generations. For all this, we owe you an apology, and I express it hereby with all my heart. It is impossible to turn the wheel of history back and restore the situation that existed in the country in 1947, much as Canada — or the United States, for that matter — cannot go back 200 years. We must build our common future on the joint desire to move forward, to heal what can be healed and repair what can be repaired without inflicting new wounds, committing new injustices and causing more human tragedies.
I urge you to accept our apology in the spirit in which it is offered. Let us work together for a just, viable and practical solution of our century-old conflict.
This solution means, simply: You have the same rights as we. We have the same rights as you: To live in a state of our own, under our own flag, governed by laws of our own making, ruled by a government freely elected by ourselves — hopefully a good one.
The borders of June 4, 1967, will be restored. I hope that we can agree, in free negotiations, to minimal exchanges of territory beneficial to both sides.
Jerusalem, which is so dear to all of us, must be the capital of both our states — West Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, the capital of Israel, East Jerusalem, including Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which we call the Temple Mount, the capital of Palestine. We shall evacuate the Israeli settlements, which have caused so much suffering and iniquities to you. We shall also dismantle all the paraphernalia of the occupation, both physical and institutional.
We must approach with open hearts, compassion and common sense, the task of finding a just and viable solution for the terrible tragedy of the refugees and their descendants. Each refugee family must be granted a free choice between the various solutions: Repatriation and resettlement in the State of Palestine, with generous assistance; staying where they are or emigration to any country of their choice, also with generous assistance; and yes — coming back to the territory of Israel in acceptable numbers, agreed by us. I trust that our two states — Israel and Palestine, living side by side in this beloved but small country, will quickly come together on the human, social, economic, technological and cultural levels, creating a relationship that will not only guarantee our security, but also rapid development and prosperity for all.
Together we will work for peace and prosperity throughout our region, based on close relations with all the countries of the area.
Such a speech is, to my mind, absolutely essential for opening a new chapter in the history of this country.
