Despite some 2,000 deaths in the last 18 months, hope is alive for peace in the Middle East, former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) told reporters before today's 167th commencement exercises at Gettysburg College.
"There is no such thing as a conflict that can't be concluded. Conflict is begun, is conducted, and ended by human beings," Mitchell said prior to addressing 501 graduates and receiving an honorary doctor of science degree in international relations from Gettysburg College.
Mitchell knows the power of negotiations. Not only did he lead the fact-finding commission that produced The Mitchell Report on the Middle East, which both sides have embraced, he also led talks that brought peace to Northern Ireland. He believes the same is possible in the Middle East, and not in the distant future. "When I say soon, I don't mean years," he said.
"Resolving conflict takes a lot of patience and a lot of perseverence," Mitchell said. "I believe that the situation on both sides in the Middle East, for ordinary Israelis and ordinary Palestinians, is unbearable.
"People can't lead a normal life. For Israelis, it is a major decision to go to the store, school, or walk down the street. Palestinians face humiliation and degradation and an extremely difficult daily life. There is incentive on both sides to end the violence. There has been so much loss of life on both sides in the past 18 months," Mitchell lamented.
"The whole history of this tragic conflict is that each escalation in force produces a counter-escalation by the other side," he said. "There is no way to achieve a military victory in this conflict, it can only be achieved through negotiations."
"The making of peace is a never-ending process, as each generation struggles anew with the tension between the legacy of history and the promise of a better future," Mitchell said during his commencement address. "Can people who have been divided and in conflict for centuries rise above their past for the mutual benefit of a stable and prosperous future? . . . That should be the goal of every society, including our own."
Also honored by Gettysburg College today was author Garry Wills, whose 1992 book "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America" won a Pulitzer Prize. Wills received an honorary degree of doctor of humane letters.
With a student body of approximately 2,400, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park. The college was founded in 1832.
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