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| [Hebrew Version] | [Arabic Version] | [Batia Donner's Review] |
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Ten years ago, this collection of first-day covers, issued
to mark the signature of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, came up for auction with the proceeds pledged to the Israel Security Fund; whereupon I resolved to purchase it. I considered this unusual and unique collection deserving of public exhibition in Israel and other lands. But many years have elapsed and only now is it on display at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel-Aviv, fifteen years after Israeli artists were invited to express their feelings at that historic moment. In the course of my lifetime, I have had occasion to meet numerous Arabs, whether an Egyptian taken prisoner in the Sinai campaign, or professional colleagues at international conventions. With many of them, I shared common spheres of ourselves on opposing sides of the border. In our numerous conversations, we voiced the hope that the day would come when the state of hostility would be at an end. Following upon the Six Days War, it was my custom to meet with Palestinian residents of the West Bank, including a journalist, a doctor, a lawyer, a pharmacist and an industrialist. Our conversations hinged principally on peace between Israel and its neighbors. To this day, we maintain close mutual ties of friendship and work. I hope that this exhibition, born of the first peace treaty Israel signed with one of its neighbors, will indeed be displayed at additional locations throughout the world, to inculcate Israel’s vigorous desire for peace. |
