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