Because it ignores resolutions, Razaq charged,"Israel seems to be above the law."

"Are you at the Law School?" Peres asked. Afterthe student answered no, Peres launched into adefense of his country.

"The U.N. forbids any attack of one nationagainst another," Peres said. "Israel was legallycreated by the United Nations and was attacked byseven Arab nations [in the War of Independence inMay 1948]. Is that in accordance with the UNcharter?" he asked.

In an interview after the speech, Razaq accusedPeres of distorting the truth. And he said theforeign minister blamed the Arabs instead ofdealing with Israel's transgressions.

"He had to resort to lying," Razaq said laterof Peres' response. "He contradicted the historythat I learned at Harvard in History 1880."

But other spectators said they were moresatisfied with Peres' s response.

"He talked about his vision and I think hepresented his views very well," said Joshua Z.Heller '94. "One of the attacks that he's gottenfrom people in Israel is that he wants his placedin history and he really doesn't care aboutIsrael, but today he showed he wants peace."

An Introduction

The program began with a welcome by RabbiFinestone and an introduction by Mayer B. Bick'96, co-chair of Harvard Students for Israel.

"For the first time in recent memory," Bicksaid in his introduction, "peace and the MiddleEast do not seem mutually exclusive."

Bick, who is an editor of The Crimson, went onto list details of Peres' life in politics,including his election to the Knesset in 1959 andhis role in the founding of the Labor Party in1968. Peres served as Israeli prime minister from1984 to 1986 and has been minister of foreignaffairs since July 1992.

"He has served Israel with distinction for fivedecades," Bick said. "He crafted an agreement forPalestinian self-rule that was accepted by bothsides," he said in reference to the September 1993peace accord.

In an interview after the speech , Bick talkedabout Peres' willingness to pursue peace.

"His emphasis was that Israel is ready to makepeace," Bick said. "He made that very clear andalso had great sense of humor."

The president of the Society of Arab Students,Radi M. Annab '95, said he also thought Peresspoke will But Annab said he disagreed with Peres'idea of a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation.