Likening the situation betwen Israel and Palestine to a cold bird flying over Lebanon, Israeli Consul General Eviatar Manor told an audience in the HUB last night that it is difficult to tell who is Israel's friend in the battle to establish peace.

Nonetheless, peace may be down the road, Manor said.

Manor, consul general of Israel in Philadelphia, traced the history of Israel's attempts to be a "normal state" from Syria's 1973 attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, to present-day attempts to establish peace.

"It was not our dream to establish a state on the back of bayonets," he said.

In an interview before his speech, Manor said the recent developments in the Middle East, including the Palestinian attack on Israeli tankers, created an angry environment among Israelis. But if Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat sticks to his promise to control such attacks, relations could still improve, Manor said.

"If he tries, he will succeed. We don't doubt his commitment. Arafat must show not only commitment, but decision, too," Manor said.

But Hal Rudnick (junior-film and video) said it shouldn't be forgotten that religion started the wars.

"It might be a small percent that has the religious aspect driving them, but it is such a passionate force -- I don't think it will go away so quickly," he said.

For a long time, Arafat used his power to manipulate factions within the PLO, but now a turning point has been reached by Arafat's decision to reach an agreement with Israel, Manor said. And Arafat must act for peace.

"If he doesn't, we are at the mercy of these terrorists," he said. "To Israelis, it will show his full commitment to peace. To Palestinians, it will show that he is asserting his authority."

With Israeli borders recently closed to Palestinians, many Palestinians are in financial distress, he said, but Israel must do something to regain support for the peace process among its own people. The borders will be reopened, he added, and already teachers and doctors have been allowed to return to work.

Manor said Israel recognizes that reopening the border to job-holding Palestinians is also reopening the border to terrorism. But that is a risk the government will take.

Anti-peace activist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad will do anything to stop the peace process, ultimately trying to destroy Israel entirely, he said. But their violence is a sign of their weakness, not their strength.

"There are forces that feed on disaffection, and once disaffection goes away, there is no future for them," Manor said.

And Arafat must show complete effort to recognize Israel's right to exist as well as disavowing the arms struggle, Manor said. It is for these two reasons that Israel agreed to deal with the PLO, he said.

Despite the trouble ensuing between the two sides, negotiations continue.

Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin will meet today to take stock of negotiations. On Sunday, the PLO and the foreign prime ministers of Israel and Jordan will meet in Washington, D.C., Manor said.

"A few years ago, people would've run to their televisions for something like this." he said, adding that people don't realize how quickly the peace process has come along.

Manor said he came to the University to "set up a more intensive relationship between the Israeli universities and Penn State."

"We are all living in a global village today and we should all be aware of one another," Manor said. "And we should do that through the system of education."