Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Please, Please Go Away

Dear: Richard Gere, George Alexander et al ------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Sir/Madame, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Over the past couple of bloody years of conflict between Israelis
and Palestinians, there have been quite a number of efforts on the
part of well-meaning people, famous and not-so famous, to bring
peace to this area. Such efforts have often been given media
attention, culminating with the recent attempt by Mr. Richard Gere
to call on the Palestinians to vote in the upcoming Palestinian elections.
These efforts have, as far as I can tell, have had negligible, if any,
effect on events here.
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This is why I would like to request that this constant flow of
goody-goody peace initiatives cease. They are at most a joke, a curiosity,
a temporary repreive from the real and difficult
events here. At worst, they divert attention and hope from the
real and messy process of give and take conducted by Israelis
and Palestinians to reach, if not peace, then at least
some sort of modus vivendi.
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I make this appeal not only as an Israeli citizen, but as an aspiring
historian who has read a thing or two about well-meaning but clueless
individuals who tried at one time or another to bring about a lasting
peace between Jews and Arabs. The list is long: Avraham Kalvarisky,
Judah Magnes, Martin Buber, Folke Bernadotte and others. All, without
exception, came away empty-handed. At most, they served as fodder for
partisans who aim to 'prove' that there might have been peace if only the
plans of so-and-so had been implemented.
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The people who actually achieved something were not the well-wishers,
but the hard-nosed and knowledgable professionals such as William
Quandt, Henry Kissinger and Ralph Bunche. Ultimately, however,
peace or cease-fires were achieved when it was in the interest of both
sides to do so, regardless of outside help.
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The world does not lack problems which you can help stop or reduce -
AIDS, illiteracy, poverty are among many worthy causes over which
you can have some effect. The Israel-Palestinian conflict is not.
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Sincerely,
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AIWAC

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