War is the Price of Diversity

The state of the world today is not essentially different from the state of the world in 1948. We are still faced with the same choices that we were facing in 1948. On the level of fundamental principles, we are faced with a choice between unity and diversity. The unity of mankind, or the diversity of nations and political institutions. National sovereignty is the contemporary expression of the ancient human tradition which divided us into {202} tribes, each jealously guarding its independence and proud of its differences from its neighbors. The diversity of tribes and cultures is, whether we like it or not, deeply rooted in our history. War is the price we have paid for this diversity. It is a price which mankind has usually been willing to pay, whenever the means of warfare were available and the prospects of success not altogether hopeless. Even the tribe of Israel, which made an exception to the general rule by maintaining its separate existence without an army and without war for two thousand years, has in modern times chosen national sovereignty as a preferable alternative, accepting the attendant burdens of intermittent warfare. Einstein, as a member of the tribe, understood and reluctantly supported its violent assertion of national sovereignty. While the war of Israeli independence was still raging in 1948, he wrote: "I never considered the idea of a state a good one, for economic, political and military reasons. But now, there is no going back, and one has to fight it out."