And Joseph's brothers hated him and
could not speak peacefully to him. Joseph was sorely outnumbered. Ten
of his eleven brothers hated him and didn't even want him around.
And Israel's neighbors hated her and
could not speak peacefully to her. Israel was sorely outnumbered. Too
long a list of Arab States have hated Israel since 1948 and did not
even want her around. Then Egypt made peace and Jordan did too but
most of the Arab world still could not speak peacefully to her.
This past week Israel sat with more
than forty other countries, some still officially in a state of war
with her and they talked about peace. My greatest hope last week at
this time was that his conference would not spark violence against
Israel resulting in any tragic loss.
Why wouldn't the Saudi Foreign
Minister speak peacefully with the Israeli delegation? He said that he
would not shake any Israeli's hand. Are Israelis so horrible that a
diplomat could not be civil with them? What does Israel need to do for
him to be willing to go so far as to shake an Israeli hand?
Most American Jewish groups were
almost silent about the Annapolis conference in the weeks leading up
to it. The silence came out of negligible expectations that any good
would come. Did any good come? Even Syria was invited. Even Syria
showed up. Both were a surprise. There is a saying in the Middle
East that you can't have war without Egypt but you can't have peace
without Syria. A time table was set for a final settlement in the next
twelve months. If you were a betting man, how would you wager?
Israelis by and large did not see
any success at Annapolis. Polls conducted in the last few days show
that more than fifty percent of Israelis considered it a failure and
some twenty percent viewed it as successful with the remainder not
quite sure. It is hard to be quite sure. The expectations of the
outcome kept being lowered and lowered. If the final expectation was
getting these countries to show up and sit together in one room and
talk about peace, then it was a great success. Truth is, only time
will tell whether this was a beginning or a blip on the screen.
Almost all of the stars are lined up
against peace breaking out any time soon. Again, I hope that this
timetable of a final settlement in thirteen months doesn't result in
renewed violence and tragic loss. And yet let's not lose hope for good
to come. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote the day after
Annapolis regarding peace. "It takes something that has been sorely
lacking since the deaths of Anwar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin and King
Hussein: a certain moral courage to do something 'surprising'."
Friedman goes on to say so far all of the surprises have come from the
extremists. We can only hope for a surprise from the more moderates.
Sixty years ago this week, November
29, 1947 the United Nations voted for the Partition of Palestine into
two states Jewish and Arab. Surprises happen and dreams come true and
that very same Joseph is quite a dreamer. His dreams caused his
brothers to hate him even more and yet his dreams came true. We
should still let ourselves dream of good surprises.
Another saying in the Middle East is
the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Many of Israel's neighbors who are
Sunni Arabs have great concern and antipathy for the aggression of the
Shiite and non Arab country of Iran and what appears to be its
interest to dominate the region. Could they be interested in the real
politick of forming a Middle East Alliance of moderate Arab States
together with Israel to stand firm against Iranian expansion? A number
of commentators say this is the hope of Annapolis.
But what happens with the
"Palestinian refugees?" What happens with East Jerusalem? What
happens with the holy space of the Temple Mount? What happens with
Gaza, with Hamas? As Hezbollah and its rockets came into southern
Lebanon after Israel's withdrawal and Hamas and its missiles came into
Gaza after Israel's withdrawal, if Israel withdraws from the West
Bank, do we have any reason not to expect more missiles coming in
close proximity to Israel's greatest population centers. Now we have a
nightmare, no longer a dream. A large part of my hope is that Israel
does nothing and gives nothing up that will jeopardize the security of
the citizens and State of Israel. Indeed, peace involves taking a
chance but it must be a thoroughly calculated chance.
We know that the majority of
Israelis want to live in peace next to the Palestinians and are
willing to make concessions to achieve this. The biggest question is
does the majority of Palestinians want to live next to a Jewish State
of Israel or is their dream still to live in place of Israel. If peace
is desired, solutions can be found to all of the questions above. You
have to want peace first.
The Administration deserves to be
applauded for stepping into the turbulent waters of peace making. It
does the soul good to see our great country again being the wellspring
of peace and not of war. I would love there to be reason for that
applause to grow louder and more enthusiastic but then I see how the
stars are lined up and yet, like Joseph I am willing to dream and hope
to be surprised. Maybe at the next meeting the Saudi Minister will be
prepared to shake an Israeli's hand and he will no longer be like the
brothers who could not even speak peacefully to Joseph.
If we could say one brief thing to
all those assembled in Annapolis this past week maybe it would best be
"Go Ahead..... Surprise Us!"
