Allright. The war in the Middle East is escalating daily…..some members of our government, when asked what will come next, a blank stare comes over their faces and they are left practically speechless. Two groups of people, who are supposed to live in peace, side by side, at this point in time cannot kill enough of each other’s people fast enough. The uneasy trust between Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat has been practically destroyed. Their wounds go back many years…..but now one is left with the question, who will kill the other first? How can a peace agreement be reached in an atmosphere of such chaos and distrust? Perhaps there is a solution, but it’s going to take one of these men to step forward and say, “Enough of the bloodshed.”

To start down the road to peace we have to start with the basics….forget the negotiations, forget the territories, let’s just start with a dinner table with only two chairs. Let’s just roll with this for a minute….what would happen if Ariel Sharon made a trip to Ramallah, walked into Yasser Arafat’s compound and said, “Would you like to have dinner with me?” Crazy you say….but with the whole world watching, Ariel Sharon’s status as a leader would rise tenfold. Or Yasser Arafat, with the batteries low on his cell phone, placed a call to Sharon, and invited him to come visit. For peace to come to the Middle East, it may take some crazy, unrehearsed, unplanned act like this to jump-start the peace process. So what would they talk about at the meal? Eye to eye, they could talk about their wives, families, and what they’ve lost. For if they are to ever live alongside one another they are going to have to restore trust on the basic level, and become friends. This all may seem like a Twilight Zone episode, but the same was said to Anwar Sadat when he boarded an airplane to Israel in the 1970s. Waiting for him as he got off the plane was Menachim Begin, Prime Minister of Israel. Two fierce enemies, who realized enough blood had been shed.

There are many out there who never would want this dinner to take place, or the prospects of a meeting like this they would call a fantasy. Well, if peace is ever to come to the Middle East, some dinner appointments, or something along those lines, must happen. There’s enough Hate to go around. It is at times like these the real leaders emerge. For the Future, for the Children, for Mankind, somebody has to come up with some new approaches to this problem, because so far nothing is working. So who will it be? President Bush? The Head of the Arab League? or the Secretary General of the United Nations?

So how about it? Dinner for two? Or let’s try some other so-called “crazy” idea….but at least let’s try something different. If you really want to know what “crazy” is, just let this current situation continue as it is.

Break bread,
love, Jennifer Avalon
© 2002 Jennifer Avalon