Hoffmann Says Israelis Accept Palestinians as National Entity

Stanley H. Hoffmann, professor of Government, said yesterday that members of the Israeli government "no longer make any attempt to deny that there is a Palestinian problem and a Palestinian people."

Hoffmann, who recently returned from a study-tour in Israel, spoke before an audience of about 75 people at the Center for International Affairs.

He said no one in Israeli politics is prepared to negotiate with any Palestinians who do not recognize Israel's right to exist.

"There is a hope in Israel that the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] will fade away, but there is also the belief that any moderate Palestinian group which seeks to negotiate with Israel will immediately be outflanked by extremists," he said.

Hoffmann said he saw a contradiction between "profound pessimism and wishful thinking" prevalent among Israelis. He said that a high-ranking minister in the cabinet told him. "A country like Israel cannot have a foreign policy, it can only have a policy of survival."

Hoffmann went to Israel with a group of 15 American academics and writers, who were invited by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to meet with government officials and evaluate Israel's military and diplomatic situation.

Hoffmann said that avoiding war, even a war of situation, should be Israel's first priority. "If there are two things that Israel cannot afford, one is defeat and the other is victory," he said.

He added that Israel's victory in the 1967 Six Day War "wreaked havoc on the Israeli body politic."