An Open Letter To Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, etc.

Netanyahu’s Impossible “Peace” And My Free Advice on How to Make Peace Reality

By Jean-Pierre Ady Fenyo, Philosopher


“We want to live with you in peace as good neighbors”, said Israel’s current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

And by “good neighbors” it turns out he meant a Palestinian entity, something not quite a fully sovereign national state, that would not have the means to discourage and defend itself against an otherwise possible, unjustified invasion and occupation.

Apparently Bibi Netanyahu wants the rest of us Jews to believe that the Palestinian side, and for that matter the predominantly Muslim Arab side, would ever accept such a precondition! Who does he think he is kidding? You know Bibi; it’s bad enough if you think it is wise to try and fool the Arab World, but to do that to the Jewish World is deeply offensive. Sure, most of Israel, left and right, seems to want to believe in fairytales (or maybe not really), or at least believe in tactics meant to postpone the inevitable, because, let’s face it (sarcastically speaking): there is scant evidence that there are enough people on the Palestinian side who will be able to deliver on a full peace, based on full parity of national sovereignty. After all, Gaza was proof enough of just how unreliable and weak the Palestinian moderates are. Or was it??

Enough of the fancy word-play and rhetoric Mr. Netanyahu! The Gaza Strip is not The West Bank, and Mahmoud Abbas’s Fateh is not Hamas, nor is the Arab World today the same Arab World it was during the Bush years. Things have changed, and not just because there is a Democrat in The White House whose middle name is Hussein (the late King Hussein al-Hashemi was a good friend to Israel…and many Jews include the word ‘hussein’ in their daily prayers), but because The World, like it or not, has been made a far more dangerous place by the dangerously foolish policies of the previous U.S. administration, especially for us Jews!

I will now proceed to advise you, point by point, in the slightest hope that you or someone with influence over you will heed my advice:

1. Israel, without the slightest doubt, must be recognized, by the legitimate and recognized Palestinian leader(s), as a state, first and foremost, established for the sake and purpose of protecting the Jewish people from any serious risk of annihilation; thus Israel must be recognized as a Jewish-ruled state, but one in which all other Israeli citizens, be they Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist or whatever (except for anti-Semites and Fascists), be they Arab or not, Semitic or not, are provided the same kind of human rights and dignity that one would expect of any nation-state that is at least semi-democratic! Ben Gurion's dream was just that kind of Israel. That is to say this; Israel should not expect to be accepted and recognized as a strictly Jewish State, but it should have a Constitution that provides a special set of protections to persons who are definitely Jewish (generally as determined by Orthodox Jewish Law) including specific protections that insure that Israel’s Jews forever have the ability and right to destroy any nation that would dare to attempt to commit genocide against the Jewish people! After all, this is really what we Jews want to be sure of! Even if there were only one real Jew remaining within the borders of the State of Israel, she or he should be guaranteed the ability and right to launch nuclear missiles at any nation who would dare to attempt to commit genocide on his or her fellow Jews! Seriously! And perhaps the day will come when there will be a sovereign Gypsy nation with the same ability, and they too will seek the ability and right to do the same. Seriously! Because, let’s face it, what happened to millions of Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and many others, including millions of decent Christians too, during World War Two, must NEVER, ever, happen AGAIN! On all other issues all other Israelis would have the same legal, human and democratic rights, such that any Palestinian Arab currently in exile, who would still want ‘their (supposed) right to return’, would have to fulfill certain reasonable things and meet certain sensible qualifications to be able to apply and receive full Israeli citizenship. Because, and in this sense the estimated majority of Israelis today who support Netanyahu’s concerns have a valid point, there is no way that Israel can afford to let most, let alone all, Palestinians who once lived in areas now inside the modern borders of Israel, and their descendants, simply return. There can be no doubt about it; Israel would seize to exist, seize to serve its most important purpose, if it were foolish enough to agree to a full right of return to all those Palestinians. It would be a compromise solution, whereby some Palestinians (we’re not talking about millions, but only about thousands), especially the elderly who were actually born in areas that now make up the modern borders of Israel, would get assistance in applying for citizenship. And, over time, when peace proves sustainable, Israel will make it easier for Palestinian relatives to visit their fellow Israeli Palestinian relatives for reasonably limited periods of time. Bibi; it’s that simple and that easy!
2. As part of the same fundamental purpose for the existence of the State of Israel, any Two State solution that allows for the formation of a modern sovereign Palestinian State must not be able to present a serious military or existential threat to Israel. But, as the wise old saying goes; “good fences make for good neighbors”! Thus Israel must somehow accept that a Palestinian State alongside its borders must have its own reasonable means of self-defense in order to feel safe and secure from the risk of any future Israeli government coming to power that might simply decide to end any previous agreement, perhaps using the excuse of a freak incident in which, say, some fringe minority terrorist group were able to launch a few missiles into Israel from Palestinian territory, that is to say as a casus belli , an excuse to invade and occupy territory. But the exact nature and type of such means of self-defense can be determined and agreed upon, such that the actual result does not effectively mean a fully ‘demilitarized’ Palestinian State, because, face it Bibi, the Palestinian leadership will never agree to sign a deal with Israel on the basis of having its right to self-defense denied. I seriously doubt that our side, we Jews and Israelis, would agree to such a ridiculous idea, were the shoe on the other foot! Good fences do tend to help make for good neighbors, and no sensible Palestinian leader would ever sign a peace agreement based on having to fully trust in the good will of its former enemy! We wouldn’t and they won’t. Mind you, we’re not talking about a Palestinian State that would be allowed to have the kind of weaponry (massive amounts of tanks, cannons, heavy artillery, missiles and planes, etc.) that any of the co-signers (USA, Russia, EU, etc.) would have to concede could easily present a serious offensive threat to Israel. That would be out of the question, just as would be any agreement that would deny Israel’s special right to keep its ability to maintain full defensive parity with the entire Arab World. The self-defense needs of Israel cannot be compared with those of any future Palestinian State, and Israel cannot forsake its nuclear deterrent and its ability to thwart any massive conventional military threat on the part of its future former enemies becoming enemies again. The History of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shows that Israel would need generations of peace in order to finally feel safe enough to consider full multilateral disarmament. In fact, chances are much greater that by that time the whole World might abandon nationalism and all forms of tribalism and inhumanity (ethnocentrism, racism, unjustified intolerance, ignorant behavior, violence, war, crime and corruption), and then, in all probability, the last nation on Earth to become a full part of a future One Diversely United World would be Israel! Not because we Jews are less willing to be part of such a One Diversely United World, but because we would probably be the most skeptical of all! But then again; are we not Jews because we truly trust in the Peaceful Coming of The Peace-Loving Messiah, who will bring peace to all The World and to All Humanity (not just to us Jews)?!? Reasonable compromise, Bibi, reasonable compromise; it’s Real Peace’s middle name!
3. As for Jerusalem; oh Yerushalayim, may I turn into a pillar of salt before I ever forget you! The idea of keeping Jerusalem fully united as the sole Capital of The State of Israel, is nice, but it is not at all realistic in so far as achieving a viable, lasting peace with the Palestinians. Let’s face it Bibi; only when The Messiah is truly declared (when a Jew becomes Anointed King of The Kingdom of Judah) will we Jews be able to reclaim all of Jerusalem (and much more) as ours. Every decent Muslim knows this and will have to contend with this when such a time should actually arise. But, until such a time, the Jewish people need peace more than anything else, and preventing such peace on account of one’s inability to wait, ever-so-patiently, for The Messiah, is nothing less than endangering the lives of all Jews, and if you are truly Jewish Bibi, then you should know this! The life of any and every single Jew is sacred (just as sacred as are the lives of all those who do not threaten the lives of Jews), and to endanger our lives because you would play the unrealistic politics of delaying tactics that would prevent a viable, lasting peace is just as wrong as it would be for the rest of us Jews to agree to join you in such folly, thereby also endangering the lives, the safety and security, of all the other nations of The World! For it is already a certainty, beyond all reasonable doubt, that any Palestinian leader who would sign such an unrealistic, ‘flawed peace agreement’ would not be able to remain in power long enough to deliver the very results needed! Furthermore, we must keep in mind that practicing Jews are forbidden to go up to Mount Moriah where both destroyed Holy Temples stood, that Islam’s Third Holiest site (where, as they understand, their Prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven) is up there, and that every leader acceptable to the Palestinian people has promised that Jerusalem will, at least in part, be part of any future Palestinian State. Given all these facts, and much more, there can be no doubt that you (should) know that any Two State solution, any truly viable peace settlement, based on any realistic understanding of what is at stake and what is minimally required, must include some kind of an odd-ball compromise solution whereby Jerusalem remains united in terms of access (for Jews, Muslims and Christians) but, with the exception of the Christian, Armenian and Jewish Quarters (as well as West Jerusalem and a few parts of East Jerusalem) the rest of Jerusalem, including Mount Horiah (for us The Temple Mount), the Muslim Quarter and much of the rest of East Jerusalem would have to be part of their Palestinian State, in such a way that there is an international entity able to insure peace and security. Such would probably be made up of United Nations, US, Jordanian and EU officers (it could be known as The Jerusalem International Security Force) in all parts of Old Jerusalem, helping insure that Jerusalem somehow becomes the first City in The World to be semi-united semi-divided, being both the Capital of Israel and the Capital of Palestine! All of Greater Jerusalem would have to be demilitarized and a joint Israeli-Palestinian Security Force, supervised by the Commander of The Jerusalem International Security Force (and his Deputies), would also have to be established to help prevent incidents such as people throwing stones and other missiles down towards Jews praying at The Kotel (The Western Wall) and people going up to The Temple Mount area seeking to incite the anger of Muslim worshippers. Only by such an intricate, sophisticated and yet realistic solution to the Grand Question of Jerusalem can the final piece to ‘the puzzle of peace’ be put into place!
4. Only when there is also a viable (potentially everlasting) peace agreement and settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, that brings about a Two State Solution, will it also be possible, and to some extent necessary, for Israel to finally be able to make peace with Syria and Lebanon, which will almost surely result in a broader peace between Israel and The Entire Arab World, which will eventually translate into peace between Israel and the rest of The Islamic World, which would most likely include peace with a new Iran! Only when there is such a Pan-Arab-Israeli peace will there be fantastic business trade opportunities for all of The Middle East and The Mediterranean, and only then will the rest of The World witness the overall beauty and benefits of viable realistic peace based on reasonable compromise and justified tolerance! For without peace Israel will continue to become more and more isolated and forced into a senseless, eternal and self-destructive Massada-style Fortress Complex! Israel, and for that matter its allies in the European Union and The United States, cannot afford to risk delaying the inevitable peace any longer! If anything the recent violent events in Gaza show that things can really get way out of hand throughout all of the Middle East with mortally dire consequences for the rest of The World too! The last thing we Jews want is to be misperceived as the very people who, having helped bring about The Ten Commandments and The Law of Love of G-D (i.e. “Do unto others as they really want to be done unto and do nothing unto anyone that they don’t want done!”), end up being the cause of the final, most horrific destruction of The World! So, Bibi, listen up, because even if I, a Jew, am not The Messiah, I have a very good idea what Our Future King, before becoming Anointed, would advise you to do, right now and not later; make peace while the going is still good! Make peace before the world begins to doubt that we are true Jews! Make peace for the sake of the children of both our peoples! Make peace for the sake of all good Jews, Muslims and Christians, and all other good peoples on Earth! Make peace, because that is exactly what being Jewish is all about! Do it!

So, there! There you have it Bibi: do the right thing and reap the rewards or end up being just another Israeli leader who failed to make History and who inadvertently put us all one step closer to another Shoah! G-D forbid! NEVER AGAIN! NEVER!

Jean-Pierre Ady Fenyo, whose Hebrew name is David, has been involved, in one way or another, to some extent, in The Peace Process for the past 33 years. He is a Philosopher, a Writer, an Artist, and has given serious advice to some of the most important and influential people in The World, including U.S. Vice-President Biden, President Shimon Peres and George Soros, to name just a few. He helped get President Obama elected and indirectly advises him. He resides between Washington, D.C. and London, England. He is the author of “The Most Important Thought” (Silver Aleph Books), and was made famous in the late 80s as The Original New York City Free Advice Man (see The New Yorker, August 17, 1987 issue).

AN OPEN LETTER TO MY PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA!

What President Barack Obama Needs To Tell The Palestinians And Israelis

By Jean-Pierre Ady Fenyo, Philosopher & Middle East Peace Analyst


It is absolutely imperative that we, The United States of America, and all the other moderate states of the world, that our leaders, make it clear to both the Israeli and Palestinian sides that there is absolutely no other option but to reach a final, truly viable and relatively just peace settlement within months and not years! If anything, the complex, disturbing and very sad and tragic events of the Gaza War demonstrate just how urgent and how dangerous this historic conflict is! Given the many obvious and not-so-obvious security concerns, regarding not only the dire realities and urgency, but which involve the overall regional situation throughout the greater Middle East and its direct and indirect impact on the security and stability of the entire world, peace can no longer be postponed indefinitely. Peace must not be held hostage to senseless nuances and antiquated notions on the part of either side nor should the need for peace be perpetually ignored and avoided on account of a systemic failure of the international community to make the urgency clear to everybody, or the failure of the Israeli and Palestinian authorities and leaders to properly inform their constituents about what is really at stake here! Any relatively intelligent and knowledgeable person, especially anyone with a serious background in security issues, understands all too well that the time is already long overdue for a peace of the brave and wise, within months, if not sooner!

1967: A Non-Starter

President Obama needs to make it clear to The Palestinians and to the relatively moderate Arab nations most concerned, that the idea of Israel withdrawing to the pre-1967 borders has already, long ago, been shown to be a total and absolute non-starter for any realistic chance of a peace agreement! The Oslo Agreements and all subsequent agreements that were reached before the Camp David negotiations between Prime Minister Ehud Barack and Chairman Yasser Arafat, under the auspices of President Clinton, in 2000, make it perfectly clear that Israel, for very specific and understandable reasons, both logical and hypothetical, cannot agree to withdrawing to borders that existed prior to 1968. Obviously no Israeli political leader would survive long enough to deliver any such 1967-type agreement, such as the one proposed by Saudi Arabia lately, for that would mean an Israel that would actually have no strategic parity with its neighbors should they ever default on any so-called peace treaty, peace settlement agreement!
In fact, it would cause a more dangerous situation to arise, which would easily turn into the very kind of Global Security Meltdown and Final World War conflagration we currently risk facing. True deterrence, in effect prevention of total disaster, is contingent on The Palestinians accepting a situation that does not involve Israel withdrawing exactly to the pre-1968 borders and lines of demarcation. That said, what Oslo and Madrid and all subsequent understandings have basically suggested and offered is a viable, lasting, and relatively just peace involving almost everything that the Saudi Plan would entail, with some very clear exceptions, that, I must stress once more, are totally non-negotiable by any realistic Israeli leader! Most of the issue revolves around the special status of Jerusalem, which in a certain sense and manner will have to remain almost entirely united and part of Israel, with obvious exception to The Old Muslim Quarter, which would itself gain a special, unique, and rather seemingly complex status under a joint Palestinian-Jordanian authority, and which would still be part of a very complex Intra-National and International agreement and arrangement. And there are other relatively minor territories and issues that collectively are major factors in establishing the kind of viable and logically sensible peace arrangement and agreement, whose details I shall not be able to specify in this relatively brief essay.

Further Postponement of Peace: Too Great a Peril To Israel, The Palestinians and World Peace and Stability Itself

President Barack Obama needs to use his superb communication skills to make it perfectly clear to the Israeli side that, provided the Palestinians also understand that any 1967-type border situation is a total non-starter, further avoidance of the urgent and dire need for a truly viable, relatively just and lasting peace, even if it involves a special set of sub-agreements and subsequent creation of special diplomatic enclaves on both sides for both sides, is tantamount to seriously risking a complex chain of destructive events that would easily lead to a Final Most Horrific Global Security Meltdown and a World War which would not be worth surviving and whose survivors would be very few, if any and who would end up dying shortly thereafter, in the most horrific circumstances! President Obama must make it clear that the further mere perception of Israeli intransigence and significant risk of further extremely violent conflict, regardless of any strategic justification, is rapidly bringing us closer to the brink of total destruction and doom. Israel needs, more than ever, a relatively responsible Palestinian government authority, in charge of a viable Palestinian State, along The Two State Oslo-type solution already agreed to in theory by both sides in previous years, as soon as humanly possible. Not only are we all, the whole world, being held hostage to this failure of the sides to make it clear to their own constituent populations (and to the leaders themselves) that the actual situation risks much more than their direct peace, but the ever-increasing sense of desperation, frustration and subsequent extremist tendencies are beginning to create a situation whereby reaching such an urgently needed peace settlement will become impossible and thus disaster, not just regionally but globally, will become no longer just a possibility but an absolute certainty! Anyone fairly educated and properly informed about this otherwise senseless and tragic conflict, can easily appreciate and understand how much of a disaster it would be if Egypt alone would give up on its tentative peace with Israel and turn into another front for the type of mindset that is prevalent at the top of the current Iranian extreme leadership in Tehran! It should be perfectly clear to those directly involved in making the kind of hard decisions needed that the Gaza War was rapidly turning into a very dangerous spark that would have eventually ignited the entire region, especially posing a threat to the stability of key strategic allies of America and of relative peace, such as Egypt and Jordan, to mention the most important two! Israel has no right to hold the rest of the world hostage to its own internal squabbles and it needs to get its own population majority solidly behind any realistic agreement that would deliver the kind of viable solution towards real peace.

President Barack Obama Can Make It Happen; He’s Probably The Last Chance Hope!

To avoid the kind of tainted situation that has plagued all previous American Presidents involved in trying to bring a lasting peace to The Middle East, between Israel and her neighbors, President Barack Obama must not risk the slightest impression and misperception that we can still wait, if need be, another year or two for the relatively moderate Palestinian Authority and The Israeli government to reach a peaceful settlement agreement! Logic dictates that if there really is any realistic solution to this most urgent and dangerous of conflicts then it can be arrived at within weeks, provided that all parties involved face up to the logical facts as they presently stand! There is absolutely no way President Obama would remain credible enough if he were to get entangled in the kind of on-again, off-again kabuki theatre antics that plagued President Bush! President Barack Obama must use every reasonable tool at his disposal, even if it means risking seeming to be a bit of an alarmist, to get American and world public opinion to fully support the need for the successful and relatively immediate brokering of The Two State Solution envisioned at Oslo and in most tentative agreements arrived at since! Timing is crucial here and any failure to act on time, any failure to exploit the freshness of the moment, will likely risk making the same kind of mass perception and reaction that could easily undo everything! This is not the time to act on the basis of being overly cautious or too impatient! As far I can sense and the way I really see it, based on what I consider to be a very realistic understanding of what is really involved, a meaningful and lasting peace can be arrived at within two to three months, max! NOW is the time to launch a Final Marathon Effort in pursuit of a peace whose benefits would far outweigh any so-called sacrifices that both sides would have to make! NOW is the time to explain, not just to The Palestinians and Arabs and The Israelis, but to the whole world, just what needs to be done, should be done and just what kind of real disaster would easily happen if we do not DO IT ASAP!
The “Yes We Can” mantra of The Obama Presidential Election's Campaign must be turned into the “YES WE MUST” mantra of The Obama Middle East Peace Mission! Another Gaza War, or another Lebanon War over this otherwise senseless and absolutely tragic conflict would kill the chances for peace indefinitely! And INDEFINITELY is TIME we never really had. President Obama, if you’re listening: I know you have what it takes to make this work; TIME TO DO IT NOW!