Wise King Taken by the Foolish One essay no. 22 Letter to Sharon and Arafat: Although you are foolish men who happen to both be leaders of wise and honorable peoples... Dan Plonsey December, 2001 Keywords: peace, righteousness, not killing other people, turning one's back upon one's previous foolishness Go to: Wise King essays, home page, or one of the Wise King essays: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, or Plonsey's "Kingdoms Diptych" home page, or Dan Plonsey home page.

Letter to Sharon and Arafat: Although you are foolish men who happen to both be leaders of wise and honorable peoples...

Due to circumstances which I find highly unfortunate, the wise and honorable Israeli and Palestinian peoples both find themselves with leaders who have a foolishly violent past. However, it is not inconceivable that your well-known "success" at advancing your respective causes by allowing and/or ordering the deaths of civilians may yet prepare you to make an astonishingly unexpected and wonderful peace with one another.

Both of you gentlemen recognize the other for what he has been: a ruthless killer, a shedder of innocent blood. Both of you likewise recognize that the other's current method to bringing peace and prosperity to their people is not going to work. Sharon knows that Arafat cannot succeed until he and his people win the sympathies of Americans and Israelis too, and this cannot be achieved by suicide bombers. Arafat knows that Israel will have no peace until Sharon gives the Palestinians at least some of what they want, that is, some of what the entire world, even Israel, recognizes is owed to the Palestinians.

What I do not know is whether each of you looks in the mirror and sees what the other sees, and what the whole world sees. I do not know the extent of either one's foolishness.

Perhaps Sharon is such a fool that he thinks that eventually the Palestinians will give up and go away. "Perhaps," thinks Sharon - if he is a foolish Sharon - "perhaps if we kill enough Palestinian leaders, bombers, young boys, and people who happen to be near them, perhaps then eventually there will be no one left who wants to hurt us. And perhaps if we demonstrate that we have no humanitarian regard for these people, perhaps if we show that we feel no obligation to return them their land, stop building settlements, allow them to move freely to their work, to doctors, etc., perhaps when they are convinced that we think of them solely as an enemy that menaces us, then perhaps their anger will subside. That will be nice!"

Perhaps too Arafat is such a fool that he thinks that the continued killing of Israeli children is working to his benefit: "Perhaps if I allow just a few more bombings then world opinion will come around to my side, surely they understand how it is more important to me to maintain my power than to save a few dozen lives? Surely," says the foolish Arafat, "Surely it is best to behave in a cowardly fashion, for the world does not respect leaders who are so brave as to take political and personal risks to save innocent lives!"

Sharon, if he is not an utter fool, closes a number of the settlements, beginning with those which he knows must be closed eventually, saying, "We are doing this not out of fear, but out of respect for what is right, and out of respect for the mainstream of Palestinian people who are peaceful and righteous. To those Palestinians who have behaved violently: we shame you with our non-violence. We anticipate that those Palestinians of conscience will see to it that you cease your violence now."

And Arafat, if he is not an utter fool, arrests the most violent and belligerent of his people, saying, "We do this because it is wrong to kill our neighbors, most of whom are peaceful and righteous, and whom we respect and love as fellow human beings. And to those Israelis who continue to act with violence against us, or who council it, we shame you with our non-violence. We know that you are in a minority which will be made even smaller when our good faith and deeds are recognized. And to that majority of Israeli of people of conscience we say: We anticipate that you recognize the wrongs which have been done us - you do not consider us as any less deserving of happiness than yourselves - and you will work with us to make this whole region a place of prosperity and cooperation.

Or something like that.

Best wishes for yourselves and your people.

Daniel Plonsey

-- Dan Plonsey, December 2001, El Cerrito, California Go to: Wise King essays: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, or Plonsey's "Kingdoms Diptych" home page, or Dan Plonsey home page.