Dear President Arafat,
I presume you remember me - Benny Gaon, a great believer in peace between nations; born in Jerusalem, a businessman who wanted to privatize the peace, and who did not just talk about peace, but acted to achieve it. I am taking the liberty of presenting myself as a friend to many in the Palestinian business community; as a man who still believes in peace and coexistence between the two peoples.
Many years ago, when we all still thought that the New Middle East was just around the corner, you gave me a gift: a picture of yourself with the inscription, “To Benny Gaon in friendship and appreciation.”
I returned home and placed that picture in my room with pride, alongside pictures of true and courageous leaders of nations and states who did not just talk, but acted for the sake of peace: the late King Hussein of Jordan and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
I believed in peace, and still believe in it. And yes, I believe the many assessments that the intifada could have been avoided had the negotiations at Camp David succeeded. It was unquestionably possible to moderate the rioting at the outbreak of the intifada. But today, after three years and thousands of casualties on both sides, it is my duty to ask: Mr. Arafat, what did the intifada achieve? What did we achieve? What did the Palestinian people achieve? What did you achieve? Is the situation of the Palestinian people better today, and has your position improved?
After all, what is “peace”? What is it worth without courageous leadership that shows the way with deeds, not words; that fosters coexistence, fellowship, an end to incitement and hatred, the isolation of extremist insanity, and empathy for another’s suffering? These all vanished with a burst of gunfire from an M-16 rifle in the riots of October 2000.
Mr. Arafat, the time has now come to begin turning the wheel back. To take off the uniform, rebuild confidence, and declare your support for Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Security Minister Mohammad Dahlan. Now is the time to nurture the future, not the past.
Mr. President, this is the time to take off the uniform and the pistol that you wear at every event, everywhere. No, you don’t have to wear a suit if you think that that means you’ve surrendered to Western cultural imperialism. But when you talk peace, the pistol must be put away in the safe, if only to give confidence to those sitting across the table from you. That is how the peace of the brave is made.
As a Jerusalemite, under your definition, I am not only an Israeli, but a Palestinian too. I was born and grew up in the Beit Hakerem neighborhood of Jerusalem. As a boy, I walked with my father through the alleys of Jerusalem, both east and west, and I learned to know and love every stone. As a boy in Jerusalem, I felt and saw the sights of war and the siege of city by the Jordanian Army in 1948, in a war forced on Israel by the Arab countries and which caused the catastrophe of the Palestinian refugees.
Please, stop thinking that as in the case of Lebanon, a war of attrition will bring about the withdrawal of the IDF from the Palestinian territories. The war in Lebanon was not a war against an existential threat to the Israeli people. The Israeli citizen was not fighting for his home there. We erred when we went in and it’s good that we’ve left. The time has come to admit that the intifada has been a disaster by every measure. Now is the time to admit that, as in business, the time has come to cut your losses, and sign a deal that will benefit both parties.
Don’t misunderstand the Israeli public. With your own hands, you unified all of us to fight an unnecessary and unneeded war, the price of which is being paid by the Palestinian people and not by you. Right and Left were united into a single bloc. I, who all my life believed in coexistence and who has many friends in the Arab world, believe you made a great mistake this time. It was your greatest mistake. You know it, your advisors know it, the whole Arab world and the entire West knows it.
I tell you that it is not too late. The situation can be rectified. It is in your hands. Take off your uniform and call for peace and negotiations. Endorse Abu Mazen and his aides; not Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who are destroying the entire region with their messianic visions of an Islamic Middle East.
If you do that, I promise that you will find that the silent majority in Israel that served in the IDF reserves en masse to fight for their homes, and is prepared to fight to the death to protect their children and country, will accept the peace of the brave that will finally end the conflict and heal the wounds for two peoples who have suffered too much in vain.
I, who believe in peace, have kept your picture with its inscription in an archive drawer for the day when you do it. Who will give me the opportunity to again meet you as a managing director, not as a general in uniform, as a true man of peace who makes peace and does not just talk about it?
In the hope that we will yet see this in our generation, and for the sake of the children of my Palestinian friends, for my children and grandchildren educated in the principles of coexistence, tolerance, and peace.
Sincerely,
Benny Gaon
PS: If you decide, I’ll pay for your first civilian suit.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on July 7, 2003