ABSTRACT: "Israel's defence and security could coincide with that of another three hundred million Europeans", Marco Pannella affirmed in an article which appeared in the Israeli daily newspapers, the "Jerusalem Post", "Maariv" and "Yediot Ahronoth" on the occasion of the Federal Council of the Radical Party which took place in Jerusalem in October 1988. "Being democratic means understanding that Israel's enemies do not fear its weapons so much as its ideals and those of social and political democracy."

("Single issue" booklet for the XXXV Congress of The Radical Party - Budapest 22-26 april 1989)

Israel's defence and security, integrated with defence policies the United States of Europe could adopt and are currently adopting, could be shared by three hundred million people. Peace for Israel could be negotiated in this context exclusively within this context providing a strategy for the withdrawal of her occupying forces.

Any other solution would be misleading, and worse, precarious. At the dawn of a new century, it is senseless to fight to build and or defend a national state, especially a small national state. Not only is this politically and idealistically mistaken, it is strategically impossible. Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy have experienced the error of such illusions. Israel and those fighting for a Palestinian State, must understand this error. Nevertheless, all political parties and the whole world seem transfixed on the misunderstanding.

They are caught in a tragedy with no way out. Experience shows that practically anywhere in the world in Africa, South America, the Middle East, the far East struggles for so-called "national liberation" have turned into catastrophic dictatorial regimes. Liberation and independence, the concept of "non-alignment", are illusions founded on a lie. How can there be independence, freedom or liberty for a small,new country with limited market potential when it must categorically subsist by depending on other states? This is not freedom. The democratic process, where it is championed in these nations, sustains no effective link with decision making, or with real power on the historical political level. Zionism, a highly principled concept, matured at a time when generations of intellectuals were focusing their energies on establishing National States. Today, this concept, and the values and hopes it embodies, must be re-thought and reformed to regain its former vigour and to endure. New political ideas, new attitu

des towards history, are required to sustain such a re-orientation. New transnational political forces and organisations are required to establish traditional ideals of freedom, justice, peace and tolerance to confront the real problems of the human condition and of the planet, in order to control the upheavals erupting everywhere.

Furthermore, it is imperative that we avoid a "non-aligned" pacifism which cannot respond to decisions taken on the political-historical level. The useful non-violent position demands an alert and active response to violence per se and to violent regimes. The democratic view insists that the enemies of Israel do not so much fear her weapons as they fear her ideals of political and social democracy. These ideals are the most dreaded enemies of the other political regimes of the Middle east, without exception, because they are the ideals which will free their citizens, their peoples. In Israel, an old, established ruling class, enslaved to the past, seems incapable of properly understanding that the best guarantee of Israel's survival is a State of Rights, which protects civil and human rights for very individual. On the ideological and administrative levels, the ruling class has shown itself incapable of preventing and controlling violence in a new, efficient way. Israel's old, rusty strategy inhibits Israel

from resolving the challenge of world indifference to the demagogic threat presented by totalitarian regimes on the right and on the left. The Radical Party intends to fight to promote Israel's full participation in the European Community, an essential objective for the defence of democracy and peace in the Middle East and a necessary and compulsory step towards the democratic liberalisation of all the peoples and individuals who live there.

It is possible that the European Parliament will favour this initiative, if the battle is joined and actively supported by Israel herself. The Radical Party will hold its Federal Council at the Inter-continental Hotel in Jerusalem from October 21 till 24. 1988. This meeting is extremely important both for the Radical Party and for the State of Israel. The Radical Party does not compete with any national party or any national state in the world. As such, the party will never stand in any elections and as such, it will never play a role in any "national" government; on the contrary, the party is concerned with broadcasting objectives and ideas. The Radical Party urgently requires members, subscribers and active volunteers to consolidate and affirm its existence in Israel. The "refuzniks" are well aware of our struggles for their cause and their rights as well as for the rights of all minority groups and all oppressed and persecuted individuals.

But if the "refuzniks", their families, and the Israelis trying to find a solution to the tragedy surrounding them do not speak out and take an active role in establishing this Transnational Radical Party, if they do not "vote" in this way for a better future and for new and different ideals, for themselves and for everyone, we shall all be overcome by, instead of overcoming, the immense conflicts of our times.